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“ ‘ NEVER DRAW IT IN AN UNWORTHY CAUSE 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


BY 

MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL 


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Copyright, 189G, by Harper & Brothers. 


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Nature made Washington great — but he made himself virtuous” 







ILLUSTRATIONS 


“ ‘ NEVER DRAW IT IN AN UNWORTHY 


CAUSE 


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THIS IS MY SON, MR. WASHINGTON 
GEORGE BIDS BETTY GOOD-BYE . . . 


SUH V” 

THE DAILY LESSON IN ARMS . . . 

THE FIGHT IN THE KITCHEN PASSAGE 
“ SHE WAS THE STATELIEST BEAUTY OF A 
SHIP HE HAD EVER SEEN ” . 

“ ‘ MY SON, MY BEST-LOVED CHILD ’ ” 


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THEY STRUCK NOW INTO THE WILDER 


NESS 


BY DAYLIGHT GEORGE WAS IN THE SAD 


DLE 





Frontispiece 

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OF A 

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ELDER- 


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NEVER WILL YOU BE HALF SO BEAUTIFUL 

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AS OUR MOTHER 
THE GOVERNOR’S LEVEE 


“ GEORGE HAD THE SAVAGE BY THE THROAT ” 
“ WITH DRUMS BEATING AND COLORS FLYING ” 
“ GEORGE DID ALL THAT MORTAL MAN 


COULD DO 




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A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


CHAPTER I 

“ Nature made Washington great ; but he made himself virtuous 

The sun shines not upon a lovelier land than 
midland Virginia. Great rivers roll seaward 
through rich woodlands and laughing corn-fields 
and fair meadow lands. Afar off, the misty 
lines of blue hills shine faintly against the deep- 
er blue of the sky. The atmosphere is singularly 
clear, and the air wholesome and refreshing. 

Never was it more beautiful than on an after- 
noon in late October of 1746. The Indian sum- 
mer was at hand — that golden time when Nat- 
ure utters a solemn “ Ilush !” to the season, and 
calls back the summer-time for a little while. 
The scene was full of peace — the broad and plac- 
id Rappahannock shimmering in the sun, its 
bosom unvexed except by the sails of an occa- 
sional grain-laden vessel, making its way quietly 

and slowly down the blue river. The quiet home- 
1 


2 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


steads lay basking in the fervid sun, while woods 
and streams and fields were full of those soft, 
harmonious country sounds which make a kind 
of musical silence. 

A mile or two back from the river ran the 
King’s highway — a good road for those days, 
and showing signs of much travel. It passed at 
one point through a natural clearing, on the top 
of which grew a few melancholy pines. The 
road came out of the dense woods on one side of 
this open space, and disappeared in the woods 
on the other side. 

On this October afternoon, about three o’clock, 
a boy with a gun on his shoulder and a dog at 
his heels, came noiselessly out of the woods and 
walked up to the top of the knoll. The day 
was peculiarly still ; but only the quickest ear 
could have detected the faint sound the bov 
made, as with a quick and graceful step he 
marched up the hill — for George Washington 
was a natural woodsman from his young boy- 
hood, and he had early learned how to make his 
way through forest and field without so much 
as alarming the partridge on her nest. No art 
or craft of the woods, whether of white man or 
Indian, was unknown to him ; and he under- 
stood Nature, the mighty mother, in all her civ- 
ilized and uncivilized moods. 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


3 


A full game-bag on his back showed what his 
employment had been, but now he gave himself 
over to the rare but delicious idleness which oc- 
casionally overtakes everybody who tramps long 
through the woods. He sat down and took off 
his cap, revealing his handsome, blond head. 
The dog, a beautiful long-eared setter, laid his 
nose confidentially upon his masters knee, jmd 
blinked solemnly, with his large, tawny eyes, 
into his master's blue ones. The boy’s eyes 
were remarkable — a light but beautiful blue, 
and softening a face that, even in boyhood, was 
full of resolution and even sternness. His figure 
was as near perfection as the human form could 
be — tall, athletic, clean of limb and deep of chest, 
singularly graceful, and developed, as the wise 
old Greeks developed their bodies, by manly ex- 
ercises and healthful brain-work and the cleanest 
and most wholesome living. Neither the face 
nor the figure could belong to a milksop. The 
indications of strong passions, of fierce loves and 
hates and resentments, were plain enough. But 
stronger even than these was that noble expres- 
sion which a purity of soul and a commanding 
will always writes upon the human countenance. 
This boy was a gentleman at heart and in soul — 
not because he had no temptation to be other- 
wise, but because he chose to be a gentleman. 


4 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


He sat in silence for half an hour, the dog rest- 
ing against him, the two communing together as 
only a boy and a dog can. The sun shone, the 
wind scarcely ruffled a dying leaf. A crow cir- 
cled around in the blue air, uttering a caw that 
was lost in the immensity of the heavens. The 
silence seemed to grow deeper every moment, 
when, with a quick movement, George laid his 
ear to the ground. To an unpractised ear there 
was not the slightest break in the quiet, but to 
the boy’s trained hearing something was ap- 
proaching along the highway, which induced 
him to sit still awhile longer. It was some time 
in coming, for the heavy coaches in those days 
hung upon wide leather straps, and with broad- 
tired wheels made much commotion as they 
rolled along, to say nothing of the steady beat of 
the horses’ hoofs upon the hard road. George’s 
eyes were as quick as his ears, but he caught 
nothing of the approaching travellers until the 
cavalcade flashed suddenly into the sun, and with 
its roar and rattle seemed to spring out of the 
ground. 

First came four sturdy negro outriders, in a 
gorgeous livery of green and gold, and mounted 
upon stout bay horses, well adapted for hard 
travel. Then came a magnificent travelling-coach, 
crest emblazoned, which would not have dis- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


5 


credited the king's levee. It was drawn by four 
superb roans, exactly matched in form, color, and 
action. They took the road as if they had just 
warmed up to their work ; but from the dust on 
the whole cavalcade it was plain they had trav- 
elled far that day. With heads well in the air 
the horses threw their legs together with a style 
and at a gait that showed them to be of the best 
blood in the horse kingdom. A black postilion 
in green and gold rode the off horse of the lead- 
ers, while a black coachman handled the reins. 
On the box, next the coachman, sat a white man, 
evidently a servant out of livery. One glance 
told that he was an old soldier. He had at his 
side one of the huge holsters of the day, in which 
he carried a pair of long horse - pistols, and a 
stout wooden box, upon which he rested his feet, 
showed that the party had means of defence had 
it been attacked. 

George was so stunned with admiration at the 
splendor of the equipage that he scarcely glanced 
at the interior of the coach until the sunlight 
flashed upon something that fairly dazzled him. 
It was a diamond-hilted dress-sword, worn by a 
gentleman of about fifty, who sat alone upon the 
back seat. The gorgeous sword-hilt was the 
only thing about him that shone or glinted, for 
his brown travelling-suit was as studiously simple 


6 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


as bis equipage was splendid. He wore plain 
silver buckles at his knees and upon his hand- 
some, high -arched feet, and his hair, streaked 
with gray, was without powder, and tied into a 
club with a black ribbon. 

One glance at his face fixed George’s atten- 
tion. It was pale and somewhat angular, unlike 
the type of florid, high-colored Virginia squires 
with which George was familiar. lie had been 
handsome in his } T outh, and was still handsome, 
with a stately, grave beauty ; but even a boy 
could see that this man had had but little joy in 
life. 

From the moment that George’s eyes fell upon 
this gentleman he looked upon nothing else. 
Neither the great coach nor the superb horses 
had any power to attract his gaze, although nev- 
er, in all his short life, had he seen anything so 
splendid. His mother had a coach, and so had 
most of the people round about, but all had a 
common air of having once been handsome, and 
of having reached the comfortable, shabby-gen- 
teel stage. And many persons drove four horses 
to these great lumbering vehicles, but all four 
would not be worth one of the gallant roans 
that trotted along the road so gayly. 

It was out of sight in a few minutes, and in a 
few minutes more it was out of hearing ; but in 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


7 


that time George, who was quick-witted, had 
shrewdly guessed the name and rank of the 
gentleman with the plain clothes and the dia- 
mond -hilted sword. It was the great Earl of 
Fairfax — the soldier, the wit, the rich noble- 
man — who for some mysterious reason had 
chosen to come to this new land, and to build a 
lodge in the wilderness. The boy had often heard 
his mother, Madam Washington, speak of Earl 
Fairfax. Meeting with him w r as one of the events 
of that great journey she had made in her girl- 
hood to England, where for a time she lived in the 
house of her brother Joseph Ball, at Cookham, 
in Berkshire, who had left his Virginia home 
and had taken up his residence in England. 
Here Mary Ball had met Augustine Washing- 
ton, then in England upon affairs connected 
with his property. Augustine Washington was 
one of the handsomest men of his da}q and from 
him his eldest son George inherited the noble 
air and figure that marked him. Mary Ball 
was a Virginia beauty, and although admired 
by many Englishmen of distinction, she rather 
chose to marry Augustine Washington, albeit 
he had been married before, and had two moth- 
erless boys. In England, therefore, were they 
married, sailing soon after for Virginia, and 
within twelve years Mrs. Washington was a 


8 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


widow with five children. She loved to talk 
to her children of those happy English days, 
when she had first pledged herself to Augustine 
Washington. It had also been the only time 
of excitement in her quiet life, and she had met 
many of the wits and cavaliers and belles of the 
reign of George the Second. She sometimes 
spoke of Lord Fairfax, but always guardedly; 
and George had conceived the idea that his 
mother perhaps knew Lord Fairfax better, and 
the reasons for his abandonment of his own 
country, than she cared to tell. 

He began to wonder, quite naturally, where 
the earl was bound ; and suddenly it came to 
him in a flash — “ He is going to pay his respects 
to my mother.'’ In another instant he was on 
his feet and speeding like a deer through the 
woods towards home. 

The house at Ferry Farm, which was home to 
him, was a good four miles by the road, but by 
paths through the woods and fields, and a foot- 
bridge across a creek, it was barel} 7 a mile. It took 
him but a short time to make it, but before he 
could reach the house he saw the coach and out- 
riders dash into sight and draw up before the 
porch. The old soldier jumped from the box and 
opened the door and let down the steps, and the 
earl descended in state. On the porch stood Uncle 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


9 


Jasper, the venerable black butler, in a suit of 
homespun, with a long white apron that reached 
from his chin to his knees. George saw him 
bowing and ushering the earl in. The outriders 
loosened their horses’ girths, and, after breath- 
ing them, led them to the watering - trough in 
the stable -lot back of the house. They then 
watered the coach-horses, the coachman sitting 
in solitary magnificence on his box, while the 
old soldier stretched his legs by walking about 
the lot. George saw this as he came through 
the stable way, his dog still at his heels. Uncle 
Jasper was waiting for him on the back porch. 

“ De madam,” he began, in a mysterious whis- 
per, “ will want you ter put on yo’ Sunday clo’es 
fo’ you come in ter see de Earl o’ Fairfax. He’s 
in de settin’-room now.” 

George understood very well, and immediate- 
ly went to his room to change his hunting- 
clothes, which were the worse for both dirt and 
wear. It was a ceremonious age, and the for- 
malities of dress and manners were very strictly 
observed. 

Meanwhile, in the sitting-room, on opposite 
sides of the fireplace, sat Madam Washington 
and the earl. Truly, the beauty that had dis- 
tinguished Mary Ball remained with Madam 
Washington. Her figure was slight and deli- 


10 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


cate (not from her had her eldest son inherited 
his brawn and muscle), and in her severely sim- 
ple black gown she looked even slighter than 
usual. Her complexion was dazzlingly fair, and 
little rings of chestnut hair escaped from her 
widow’s cap ; but her fine blue eyes were the 
counterpart of her eldest son's. The room was 
plainly furnished, even for the times, but scru- 
pulously neat. A rag -carpet covered the mid- 
dle of the floor, while around the edges the pol- 
ished planks were bare. In one corner a small 
harpsichord was open, with music on the rack. 
Dimity curtains shaded the small -paned win- 
dows, and a great fire sparkled in the large fire- 
place. Over the mantel hung the portrait of a 
handsome young man in a satin coat with lace 
ruffles. This was a portrait of Augustine Wash- 
ington in his youth. Opposite it was a portrait 
of Madam Washington as a girl — a lovely young 
face and figure. There were one or two other 
portraits, and a few pieces of silver upon a ma- 
hogany buffet opposite the harpsichord — relics of 
Wakefield, the Westmoreland plantation where 
George was born, and of which the house had 
burned to the ground in the absence of the mas- 
ter, and much of the household belongings had 
been destroyed. 

The earl’s eyes lingered upon the girlish por- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


11 


trait of Maclam Washington as the two sat 
gravely conversing. 

“ It was thus you looked, madam, when I first 
had the honor of knowing you in England,” he 
said. 

“Time and sorrow and responsibilities have 
done their work upon me, my lord,” answered 
Madam Washington. “The care of five chil- 
dren, that they may be brought up to be worthy 
of their dead father, the making of good men 
out of four boys, the task of bringing up an only 
daughter to be a Christian gentlewoman, is no 
mean task, I assure you, and taxes my humble 
powers.” 

“True, madam,” responded the earl, with a 
low bow ; “ but I know of no woman better fit- 
ted for so great an undertaking than Madam 
Washington.” 

Madam Washington leaned forward and bowed 
in response, and then resumed her upright posi- 
tion, not once touching the back of her chair. 

“ And may I not have the pleasure of seeing 
your children, madam?” asked the earl, who 
cared little for children generally, but to whom 
the children of her who had once been the 
beautiful Mary Ball were of the greatest inter- 
est. 

“ Certainly, my lord,” answered Madam Wash- 


12 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


t 

ington, rising, “if you will excuse me for a mo- 
ment while I fetch them.” 

The earl, left alone, rose and walked thought- 
fully to the portrait of Mary Ball and looked at 
it for several minutes. His face, full of melan- 
choly and weariness, grew more melancholy and 
weary. He shook his head once or twice, and 
made a motion with his hand as if putting some- 
thing away from him, and then returned to his 
chair bv the fire. He looked into the blaze and 

J 

tapped his foot softly with his dress -sword. 
This beautiful, grave widow of forty, her heart 
wrapped up in her children, was not the girl of 
eighteen years before. There was no turning 
back of the leaves of the book of life for her. 
She had room now for but one thought in her 
mind, one feeling in her heart — her children. 

Presently the door opened, and Madam Wash- 
ington re-entered with her usual sedate grace. 
Following her was a young girl of fourteen, her 
mother’s image, the quaintest, daintiest little 
maiden imaginable, her round, white arms bare 
to the elbow, from which muslin ruffles fell back, 
a little muslin cap covering her hair, much light- 
er than her mother’s, and her shy eyes fixed 
upon the floor. Behind her were three sturdy, 
handsome boys of twelve, ten, and eight, as alike 
as peas in a pod. In those days the children of 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


13 


gentlepeople were neither pert and forward nor 
awkward and ashamed at meeting strangers. 
Drilled in a precise etiquette, they knew exact- 
ly what to do, which consisted chiefly in making 
many low bows to their elders, and answering 
in respectful monosyllables such questions as 
were asked them. They learned in this way a 
grace and courtesy quite unknown to modern 
children. 

44 My daughter, Mistress Betty Washington, 
my Lord of Fairfax,” was Madam Washington’s 
introduction. 

The earl rose from his chair and made the 
little girl a bow as if she were the princess royal, 
while Mistress Betty, scorning to be outdone, 
courtesied to the floor in response, her full skirt 
making 1 a balloon as she sunk and rose in the 
most approved fashion. 

44 1 am most happy to meet you, Mistress 
Betty,” said he, to which Mistress Betty, in a 
quavering voice — for she had never before seen 
an earl, or a coach like the one he came in — made 
answer : 

44 Thank you, my lord. 1 ’ 

The three boys were then introduced as Sam- 
uel, John, and Charles. To each the earl made 
a polite bow, but not so low as to Mistress Betty. 
The boys returned the bow without the slight- 


14 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


est shyness or awkwardness, and then took their 
places in silence behind their mother’s chair. 
They exchanged keen glances, though, among 
themselves, and wondered when they would be 
allowed to depart, so that they might further 
investigate the coach and the four roan horses. 
Madam Washington spoke. 

“ I am every moment expecting my eldest son 
George ; he is out hunting to-day, and said that 
he would return at this hour, and he is always 
punctual to the minute. It will be a severe dis- 
appointment to me if I should not have the 
pleasure of showing your lordship my eldest son/’ 

It did not take a very acute person to note 

the tone of pride in madam’s voice when she 

said “ mv eldest son.” 

&/ 

“ It will be a disappointment to me also, mad- 
am,” replied the earl. “ I hope he is all that the 
eldest son of such a mother should be.” 

Madam Washington smiled one of her rare 
smiles. “ ’Tis all I can do, my lord, to keep 
down the spirit of pride, so unbecoming to all 
of us, when I regard my son George. My other 
sons, I trust, will be as great a comfort to me, 
but they are still of too tender } T ears for me to 
depend upon.” Then, turning to the three boys, 
she gave them a look which meant permission 
to leave the room. The boys bowed gravety to 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


15 


their mother, gravely to the earl, and walked 
more gravely out of the room. Once the door 
was softly closed they made a quick but noiseless 
dash for the back door, and were soon outside 
examining the roans and the great coach, chat- 
tering like magpies to the negro outriders, until 
having made the acquaintance of the old soldier, 
Lance by name, they were soon hanging about 
him, begging that he would tell them about a 
battle. 

Meanwhile, within the sitting-room, Madam 
Washington heard a step upon the uncarpeted 
stairs. A light came into her eyes as she spoke. 

“ There is my son now, going to his room. 
He will join us shortly. I cannot tell you, my 
lord, how great a help I have in my son. As 
you know, my step-son, Captain Laurence Wash- 
ington, late of the British army, since leaving his 
Majesty’s service and marrying Mistress Anne 
Fairfax, has lived at the Hunting Creek place, 
which he has called Mount Vernon, in honor of 
his old friend and comrade-in-arms, Admiral V er- 
non. It is a good day’s journey from here, and 
although Laurence is most kind and attentive, I 
have had to depend, since his marriage, upon my 
son George to take his father’s place in the con- 
duct of my affairs and in my household. It is he 
who reads family prayers night and morning 


16 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


and presides with dignity at the foot of my table. 
It might seem strange to those who do not know 
his character how much I rely upon his judg- 
ment, and he but fifteen. Even my younger 
sons obey and respect him, and my daughter 
Betty does hang upon her brother. ’Tis most 
sweet to see them together.” At which Mistress 
Betty smiled and glanced at the earl, and saw 
so kind a look in his eyes as he smiled back at 
her that she looked at him quite boldly after 
that. 

“ It is most gratifying to hear of this, madam,” 
replied the earl ; “ but it is hardly merciful of you 
to a childless old man, who would give many 
worldly advantages had he but a son to lean 
upon in his old age.” 

“You should have married twenty years 
ago, my lord,” answered Madam Washington, 
promptly. 

Something like a gleam of saturnine humor 
appeared in the earl’s eyes at this, but he only 
replied, dryly, “Perhaps it is not wholly my 
fault, madam, that I find myself alone in my old 
age.” 

At that moment the door opened, and young 
Washington stood upon the threshold. 


CHAPTER II 


The full flood of the sun, now low in the 
heavens, poured through the western windows 
upon the figure of the boy standing in the door- 
way. The room was beginning to darken, and 
the ruddy firelight, too, fell glowingly upon him. 

The earl was instantly roused, and could scarce- 
ly persuade himself that the boy before him 
was only fifteen; seventeen, or even eighteen, 
would have seemed nearer the mark, so tall 
and well-developed was he. Like all creatures 
of the highest breeding, George looked hand- 
somer the handsomer his dress; and although 
his costume was really simple enough, he had 
the splendid air that made him always appear 
to be in the highest fashion. His coat and knee- 
breeches were of dark-blue cloth, spun, woven, 
and dyed at home. His waistcoat, however, was 
of white brocade, and was made of his mother’s 
wedding-gown, Madam Washington having in- 
dulged her pride so far as to lay this treasured 
garment aside for waistcoats for her sons, while 


18 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


Mistress Betty was to inherit the lace veil and 
the string of pearls which had gone with the 
2;own. 

O 

George’s shoebuckles and kneebuckles were 
much finer than the earl’s, being of paste, and 
having been once worn bv his father. His blond 
hair was made into a club, and tied with a black 
ribbon, while under his arm he carried a smart 
three-cornered hat, for the hat made a great 
figure in the ceremonious bows of the period. 
II is dog, a beautiful creature, stood beside him. 

Never in all his life had the Earl of Fairfax 
seen so noble a boy. The sight of him smote 
the older man’s heart ; it flashed through him 
how easy it would be to exchange all his honors 
and titles for such a son. lie rose and saluted 
him, as Madam Washington said, in a tone that 
had pride in every accent : 

“My lord, this is my son, Mr. Washington.” 
George responded with one of those graceful in- 
clinations which, years after, made the entrance 
of Colonel Washington at the Earl of Dunmore’s 
levee at Williamsburg a lesson in grace and good- 
breeding. Being “Mr. Washington ” and the 
head of the house, it became his duty to speak 
first. 

“ I am most happy to welcome you, my lord, 
to our home.” 


THIS IS MY SON, MR. WASHINGTON 







A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


19 


“ And I am most happy,” said the earl, u to 
meet once more my old friend, Madam Wash- 
ington, and the goodly sons and sweet daughter 
with which she has been blessed.” 

“ My mother has often told us of you, sir, in 
speaking of her life during the years she spent 
in England.” 

“Ah, my lord,” said Madam Washington, “I 
perceive I am no longer young, for I love to 
dwell upon those times, and to tell my children 
of the great men I met in England, chiefly 
through your lordship's kindness.” 

“ It w r as my good-fortune,” said the earl, “ to 
be an humble member of the Spectator Club, 
and through the everlasting goodness of Mr. 
Joseph Addison I had the advantage of know- 
ins* men so great of soul and so luminous of 
mind that I think I can never forget them.” 

“ I had not the honor of knowing Mr. Addi- 
son. He died before I ever saw England,” replied 
Madam Washington. 

“Unfortunately, yes, madam. But of those you 
knew, Mr. Pope, poor Captain Steele, and even 
Dean Swift, with all his ferocious wit, his tre- 
mendous invective, his savage thirst for place 
and power, respected Mr. Addison. He was a 
man of great dignity — not odd and misshapen, 
like little Mr. Pope, nor frowzy like poor Dick 


20 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


Steele, nor rude and overbearing like the fierce 
Dean — but ever gentle, mild, and of a most manly 
bearing. For all Mr. Addison’s mildness, I think 
there was no man that Dean Swift feared so 
much. When we would all meet at the club, 
and the Dean would begin his railing at persons 
of quality — for he always chose that subject 
when I was present — Mr. Addison would listen 
with a smile to the Dean as he lolled over the table 
in his huge periwig, and roared out in his great 
rich voice all the sins of all the people, always 
beginning and ending with Sir Robert Walpole, 
whom he hated most malignantly. Once, a pause 
coming in the Dean’s talk, Mr. Addison, calmly 
taking out his snuffbox, and helping himself to 
a pinch, remarked that he had always thought 
Dean Swift’s chiefest weakness, until he had been 
assured to the contrary, was his love for people 
of quality. We each held our breath. Dick 
Steele quietly removed a pewter mug from the 
Dean's elbow ; Mr. Pope, who sat next Mr. Addi- 
son, turned pale and slipped out of his chair ; the 
Dean turned red and breathed hard, glaring at 
Mr. Addison, who only smiled a little ; and then 
he — the great Dean Swift, the man who could 
make governments tremble and parliaments 
afraid ; who made duchesses weep from his rude 
sneers, and great ladies almost go down on their 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


21 


knees to him — sneaked out of the room at this 
little thrust from Mr. Addison. For ’twas the 
man, madam — the honest soul of him — that could 
cow that great swashbuckler of a genius. Mr. 
Addison abused no one, and he was exactly what 
he appeared to be.” 

“ That, indeed, is the highest praise, as it shows 
the highest wisdom,” answered Madam Wash- 
ington. 

George listened with all his mind to this. He 
had read the Spectator , and Mr. Addison’s tragedy 
of “ Cato ” had been read to him by Mr. Hobby, 
the Scotch school-master who taught him, and 
he loved to hear of these great men. The earl, 
although deep in talk with Madam Washington, 
was by no means unmindful of the boy, but 
without seeming to notice him watched every 
expression of his earnest face. 

“ I once saw Dean Swift,” continued Madam 
Washington. “ It was at a London rout, where I 
went with my brother’s wife, Madam Joseph 
Ball, when we were visiting in London. He 
had great dark eyes, and sat in a huge chair, 
and called ladies of quality 4 my dear,’ as if they 
were dairy-maids. And the ladies seemed half 
to like it and half to hate it. They told me 
that two ladies had died of broken hearts for 
him.” 


22 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


“ I believe it to be true,” replied the earl. 
“ That was the last time the Dean ever saw 
England. He went to Ireland, and, as he said, 
‘commenced Irishman in earnest,’ and died very 
miserably. He could not be bought for money, 
but he could very easily be bribed with power.” 

“ And that poor Captain Steele ?” 

The earl’s grave face was suddenly illumi- 
nated with a smile. 

“ Dear Dick Steele — the softest-hearted, brav- 
est, gentlest fellow — always drunk, and always 
repenting. There never was so great a sermon 
preached on drunkenness as Dick Steele himself 
was. But for drink he would have been one of 
the happiest, as he was by nature one of the 
best and truest, gentlemen in the world ; but he 
was weak, and he was, in consequence, forever 
miserable. Drink brought him to debts and 
duns and prison and rags and infamy. Ah, 
madam, ’twould have made your heart bleed, as 
it made mine, to see poor Dick reeling along the 
street, dirty, unkempt, his sword bent, and he 
scarce knowing what he was doing ; and next 
day, at home, where his wife and children were in 
hunger and cold and poverty, behold him, lying in 
agony on his wretched bed, weeping, groaning, 
reproaching himself, and suffering tortures for 
one hours wicked indulgence ! Then would he 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


23 


turn gentleman again, and for a long time be 
our own dear Dick Steele — his wife smiling, his 
children happy. I love to think on honest Dick 
at these times. It was then he wrote that beau- 
tiful little book, which should be in every soldier’s 
hands, The Christian Hero. We could always 
tell at the club whether Dick Steele were drunk 
or sober bv Mr. Addison's face. When Steele 
was acting the beast, Mr. Addison sighed often 
and looked melancholy all the time, and spent 
his money in taking such care as he could of the 
poor wife and children. Poor Dick ! The end 
came at last in drunkenness and beastliness ; but 
before he died, for a little while, he was the 
Dick Steele we loved, and shall ever love.” 

“ And Mr. Pope — the queer little gentleman — 
who lived at Twickenham, and was so kind to 
his old mother?” 

“ Mr. Pope was a very great genius, madam, 
and bad he not been born crooked he would have 
been an admirable man ; but the crook in his 
body seemed to make a crook in his mind. He 
died but last year, outliving many strong men 
who pitied his puny frame. But let me not dis- 
parage Mr. Pope. My Lord Chesterfield, who 
was a very good judge of men, as well as the 
first gentleman of his time, entertained a high 
esteem for Mr. Pope.” 


24 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


“ I also had the honor of meeting the Earl 
of Chesterfield,” continued Madam Washington, 
with animation, “ and he well sustained the rep- 
utation for politeness that I had heard of him, 
for he made as much of me as if I had been a 
great lady instead of a young girl from the 
colonies, whom chance and the kindness of a 
brother had brought to England, and your lord- 
ship’s goodness had introduced to many people 
of note. ’Tis true I saw them but for a glimpse 
or two, but that was enough to make me re- 
member them forever. I have tried to teach my 
son Lord Chesterfield’s manner of saluting ladies, 
in which he not only implied the deepest respect 
for the individual, but the greatest reverence 
for all women.” 

“ That is true of my Lord Chesterfield,” re- 
plied the earl, who found it enchanting to recall 
these friends of his youth with whom he had 
lived in close intimacy, “ and his manners re- 
vealed the man. He had also a monstrous pretty 
wit. There is a great, lumbering fellow of pro- 
digious learning, one Samuel Johnson, with whom 
my Lord Chesterfield has become most friendly. 
I never saw this Johnson myself, for he is much 
younger than the men of whom we are speak- 
ing ; but I hear from London that he is a won- 
der of learning, and although almost indigent 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


25 


will not accept aid from his friends, but works 
manfully for the booksellers. He has described 
my Lord Chesterfield as ‘a wit among lords, 
and a lord among wits.’ I heard something of 
this Dr. Johnson, in a late letter from London, 
that I think most praiseworthy, and affording a 
good example to the young. His father, it 
seems, was a bookseller at Lichfield, where on 
market-days he would hire a stall in the market 
for the sale of his wares. One market-day, when 
Samuel was a youth, his father, being ill and 
unable to go himself, directed him to fit up the 
book -stall in the market and attend it during 
the day. The boy, who was otherwise a dutiful 
son, refused to do this. Many years afterwards, 
his father being dead, and Johnson, being as he 
is in great repute for learning, was so preyed 
upon by remorse for his undutiful conduct that 
he went to Lichfield and stood bareheaded in the 
market-place, before his father’s old stall, for 
one Avhole market-day, as an evidence of his sin- 
cere penitence. I hear that some of the thought- 
less jeered at him, but the better class of people 
respected his open acknowledgment of his fault, 
the more so as he was in a higher worldly po- 
sition than his father had ever occupied, and it 
showed that he was not ashamed of an honest 
parent because he was of a humble class. I 


26 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


cannot think, madam, of that great scholar, 
standing all day with bare, bowed head, bearing 
with silent dignity the remarks of the curious, 
the jeers of the scoffers, without in spirit taking 
off my hat to him." 

During this story Madam Washington fixed 
her eyes on George, who colored slightly, but 
remarked, as the earl paused : 

“ It was the act of a brave man and a gentle- 
man. There are not many of us who could do it. 1 ’ 

Just then the door opened, and Uncle Jasper, 
bearing a huge tray, entered. He placed it on a 
round mahogany table, and Madam Washington 
proceeded to make tea, and offered it to the earl 
with her own hands. 

The earl while drinking his tea glanced first at 
George and then at pretty little Betty, who, feel- 
ing embarrassed at the notice she received, pro- 
duced her sampler from her pocket and began to 
work demurely in cross-stitch on it. Presently 
Lord Fairfax noticed the open harpsichord. 

“ I remember, madam,” he said to Madam 
Washington, as they gravely sipped their tea to- 
gether, “ that you had a light hand on the harp- 
sichord." 

“ I have never touched it since my husband's 
death,” answered she, “ but my daughter Betty 
can perform with some skill." 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


27 


Mistress Betty, obeying a look from her moth- 
er, rose at once and went to the harpsichord, nev- 
er thinking of the ungraceful and disobliging 
protest of more modern days. She seated her- 
self, and struck boldly into the “ The Marquis of 
Huntley’s Rigadoon.” She had, indeed, a skilful 
little hand, and as the touch of her small fingers 
filled the room with quaint music the earl sat, 
tapping with his foot to mark the time, and 
smiling at the little maid’s grave air while she 
played. When her performance was over she 
rose, and, making a reverence to her mother 
and her guest, returned to her sampler. 

The earl had now spent nearly two hours 
w T ith his old friend, and the sun was near set- 
ting, but he could scarcely make up his mind to 
leave. The interest he felt in her seemed trans- 
ferred to her children, especially the two eldest, 
and the resolve entered his mind that he would 
see more of that splendid boy. He turned to 
George and said to him : 

“Will you be so good, Mr. Washington, as to 
order my people to put to my horses, as I find 
that time has flown surprisingly fast ?” 

“ Will you not stay the night, my lord ?” asked 
Madam Washington. “We can amply accom- 
modate you and your servants.” 

“ Nothing would please me more, madam, but 


28 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


it is my duty to reach Fredericksburg to-night, 
where I have business, and I am now seeking a 
ferry where I can be moved across.” 

“ Then you have not to seek far, sir, for this 
place is called Ferry Farm ; and we have sev- 
eral small boats, and a large one that will easily 
hold your coach ; and, with the assistance of 
your servants, all of them, as well as your horses, 
can be ferried over at once.” 

The earl thanked her, and George left the 
room promptly to make the necessary arrange- 
ments. In a few moments the horses were put 
to the coach, as the ferry was half a mile from 
the house; and George, ordering his saddle clap- 
ped on his horse, that was just then being brought 
from the pasture, galloped down to the ferry 
to superintend the undertaking — not a light one 
— of getting a coach, eight horses, and eight per- 
sons across the river. 

The coach being announced as ready, Madam 
Washington and the earl rose and walked togeth- 
er to the front porch, accompanied by little Mis- 
tress Betty, who hung fondly to her mother’s 
hand. Outside stood the three younger boys, 
absorbed in contemplation of the grandeur of 
the equipage. They came forward promptly to 
say good-bye to their mother’s guest, and then 
slipped around into the chimney corner that 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


29 


they might see the very last of the sight so 
new to them. Little Betty also disappeared in 
the house after the earl had gallantly kissed her 
hand and predicted that her bright eyes would 
yet make many a heart ache. Left alone on the 
porch in the twilight with Madam Washington, 
he said to her very earnestly : 

“ Madam, I do not speak the language of com- 
pliment when I say that you may well be the 
envy of persons less fortunate than you when 
they see your children. Of your eldest boy I 
can truly say I never saw a nobler youth, and I 
hope you will place no obstacle in the way of 
my seeing him again. Green way Court is but 
a few days’ journey from here, and if I could 
have him there it would be one of the greatest 
pleasures I could possibly enjoy.” 

“ Thank you, my lord,” answered Madam 
Washington, simply. “ My son George has, so 
far, never caused me a moment's uneasiness, 
and I can very well trust him with persons less 
improving to him than your lordship. It is my 
wish that he should have the advantage of the 
society of learned and polished men, and your 
kind invitation shall some day be accepted.” 

“ You could not pay me a greater compliment, 
madam, than to trust your boy with me, and I 
shall claim the fulfilment of your promise,” 


30 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


replied Lord Fairfax. “ Farewell, madam ; the 
sincere regard I have cherished during nearly 
twenty years for you will be extended to your 
children, and your son shall never want a friend 
while I live. I do not know that I shall ever 
travel three days’ journey from Greenway again, 
so this may be our last meeting.” 

“ Whether it be or not, my lord,” said Madam 
Washington, “ I can only assure you of my friend- 
ship and gratitude for } T our good-will towards 
my son.” 

The earl then respectfully kissed her hand, as 
he had done little Betty's, and stepped into the 
coach. With a great smacking of whips and rat- 
tle and clatter and bang the equipage rolled 
down the road in the dark towards the ferry. 

A faint moon trembled in the heavens, and it 
was so dark that torches were necessary on the 
river -bank. George had dismounted from his 
horse, and with quiet command had got every- 
thing in readiness to transport the cavalcade. 
The earl, sitting calmly back in the chariot, 
watched the proceedings keenly. He knew that 
it required good judgment in a boy of fifteen to 
take charge of the ferriage of so many animals 
and men without haste or confusion. lie ob- 
served that in the short time George had pre- 
ceded him everything was exactly as it should 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


31 


be — the large boat drawn up ready for the 
coach, and two smaller boats and six stalwart 
negro ferrymen to do the work. 

“I have arranged, my lord, with your permis- 
sion, v ■ he said, “ to ferry the coach and horses, 
with your own servants, over first, as it is not 
worth while taking any risks in crowding the 
boats ; then, when the boats return, the outriders 
and their horses may return in the large boat.” 

“Quite right, Mr. Washington,” answered the 
earl, briskly ; “ your dispositions do credit to you, 
and I believe you could transport a regiment 
with equal ease and precision.” 

George’s face colored with pleasure at this. 
“ I shall go on with you myself,” he said, “ if 
you will allow me.” 

The boat was drawn up, a rude but substan- 
tial raft was run from the shore to the boat, 
the horses were taken from the coach, and it 
was rolled on board by the strong arms of a 
dozen men. The horses were disposed to balk 
at getting in the boat, but after a little coax- 
ing trotted quietly aboard; the ferry men, re- 
inforced bv two of Lord Fairfax’s servants, 
took the oars, and the boat, followed by two 
smaller ones, w T as pulled rapidly across the river. 
After a few minutes, seeing that everything was 
going right, George entered the coach, and sat 


32 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


by the earl's side. The earl lighted his travel- 
ling-lamp, and the two sat in earnest conversa- 
tion. Lord Fairfax wished to find out some- 
thing more about the boy who had made so 
strong an impression on him. He found that 
George had been well taught, and although not 
remarkable in general literature, he knew more 
mathematics than most persons of twice his age 
and opportunities. He had been under the care 
of the old Scotchman, Mr. Hobby, who was, in a 
way, a mathematical genius, and George had 
profited by it. 

“And what, may I ask, Mr. Washington, is 
your plan for the future ?” 

“ I hope, sir,” answered George, modestly, 
“ that I shall be able to get a commission in his 
Majesty's army or navy. As you know, al- 
though I am my mother's eldest son, my broth- 
er Laurence, of Mount Vernon, is my father’s 
eldest son, and the head of our family. My 
younger brothers and I have small fortunes, and 
I would like to see something of the world and 
some service in arms before I set myself to in- 
creasing my part.” 

“ Very creditable to you, and you may count 
upon whatever influence I have towards getting 
you a commission in either branch of the mili- 
tary service. I myself served in the Low Coun- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


33 


tries under the Duke of Marlborough in my 
youth, and although I have long since given up 
the profession of arms I can never lose my in- 
terest in it. Your honored mother has promised 
me the pleasure of your company for a visit at 
Greenway Court, when we may discuss the mat- 
ter of your commission at length. I am not far 
from an old man, Mr. Washington, but I retain 
my interest in youth, and I like to see young 
faces about me at Greenway.” 

“ Thank you, my lord,” answered George, with 
secret delight. “ I shall not let my mother for- 
get her promise — but she never does that.” 

“ There is excellent sport at Green way, and I 
have kept a choice breed of deer-hounds as well 

as fox-hounds. I brought with me from Eng- 

. * 

land a considerable library, and you can, I hope, 
amuse yourself with a book ; but if you cannot 
amuse yourself with a book, you will always be 
dependent upon others for your entertainment.” 

“ I am fond of reading — on rainy days,” said 
George, at which candid acknowledgment the 
earl smiled. 

“ My man, Lance, is an old soldier ; he is an 
intelligent man for his station and a capital 
fencer. You may learn something from him 
with the foils. He was with me at the siege of 
Bouchain.” 


34 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


What a delightful vista this opened before 
George, who was, like other healthy minded boys, 
devoted to reading and hearing of battles, and 
fencing and all manly sports ! He glanced at 
Lance, standing erect and soldierly, as the boat 
moved through the water. He meant to hear 
all about the siege of Bouchain from Lance be- 
fore the year was out, and blushed when he was 
obliged to acknowledge to himself that he had 
never heard of the siege of Bouchain. 


CHAPTER III 


Next morning, as usual, George was up and 
on horseback by sunrise. Until this year he had 
ridden five miles a day each way to Mr. Hobby’s 
school ; but now he was so far ahead of the 
school-master’s classes that he only went a few 
times a week, to study surveying and the higher 
mathematics, and to have the week’s study at 
home marked out for him. Every morning, 
however, it was his dut} 7 to ride over the whole 
plantation before breakfast, and to report the con- 
dition of everything in it to his mother. Madam 
Washington was one of the best farmers in the 
colony, and it was her custom, after hearing 
George’s account at breakfast, to mount her 
horse and ride over the place also, and give her 
orders for the day. 

The first long lances of light were just tipping 
the woods and the river when George came 
out and found his horse held by Billy Lee, a 
negro lad of about his own age, who was his 


36 


A. VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


body -servant and shadow.* Billy was a choco- 

the 

cook and Uncle Jasper the butler. He had but 
one idea and one ideal on earth, and that was 
“ Marse George.” It was in vain that Madam 
Washington, the strictest of disciplinarians, might 
lay her commands on Billy. Until he had found 
out what “ Marse George ” wanted him to do, 
Billy seemed unconscious of having got any or- 
ders. Madam Washington, who could awe much 
older and wiser persons than Billy, had often 
sent for the boy, when he was regularly taken 
into the house, and after reasoning with him, 
kindly explaining to him that both “ Marse 
George ” and himself were merely boys, and 
under her authority, would give him a stern re- 
proof, which Billy always received in an abstract- 
ed silence, as if he had not heard a word that 
was said to him. Finding that he acted through- 
out as if he had not heard, Madam Washington 
turned him over to Aunt Sukey, who, after the 
fashion of those days, with white boys as well 
as black, gave him a smart birching. Billy’s 

* In Washington’s will he mentions “my man William, 
calling himself William Lee,” and gives him his freedom, 
along with the other slaves, and an annuity besides : “and 
this I give him as a testimony of my sense of his attachment 
to me, and for his faithful services during the Revolutionary 
War.” 


late-colored youth, the son of Aunt Sukey 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


37 


roars were like the trumpeting of an elephant ; 
but within a week he Avent back to his old way 
of forgetting there was anybody in the Avorld 
except “ Marse George.” Then Madam Wash- 
ington turned him over to Uncle Jasper, who 

“ lav ” that he would “ meek dat little triflin’ 
«/ 

nigger min’ missis.” A second and much more 
vigorous birching folloAved at the hands of Uncle 
Jasper, \\ r ho triumphed over Aunt Sukey when 
Billy for two days actually seemed to realize that 
he had something else to do besides following 
George about and never taking his eyes off of 
him. Uncle Jasper’s victory was short-lived, 
though. Within a week Billy was as good-for- 
nothing as ever, except to George. Madam 
Washington then saw that it Avas not a case of 
discipline — that the boy Avas simply dominated 
by his devotion to George, and could neither be 
forced nor reasoned out of it. Therefore it Avas 
arranged that the care of the young master’s 
horse and everything pertaining to him should 
be confided to Billy, Avho would Avork all day 
Avith the utmost AAdllingness for “ Marse George.” 
By this means Billy was made of use. Nobody 
touched George’s clothes or books or belong- 
ings except Billy. He scrubbed and then dry- 
rubbed the floor of his young master’s room, 
scoured the AvindoAvs, cut the Avood and made 


38 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


the fires, attended to his horse, and when George 
was there personally to direct him, Billy would 
do whatever work he was ordered. But the in- 
stant he was left to himself he returned to idle- 
ness, or to somfe perfectly useless work for his 
young master — polishing up windows that were 
already bright, dry-rubbing a floor that shone 
like a mirror, or brushing George's clothes which 
were quite spotless. His young master loved 
him with the strong affection that commonly ex- 
isted between the masters and the body-servants 
in those days. Like Madam Washington, George 
was a natural disciplinarian, and, himself capa- 
ble of great labor of mind and body, he exacted 
work from everybody. But Billy was an excep- 
tion to this rule. It is not in the human heart 
to be altogether without weaknesses, and Billy 
was George's weakness. When his mother would 
declare the boy to be the idlest servant about the 
place, George could not deny it ; but he always 
left the room when there were any animad- 
versions on his favorite, and could never be 
brought to acknowledge that Billy was not a 
much-injured boy. Serene in the consciousness 
that “ Marse George’' would stand by him, Billy 
troubled himself not at all about Madam Wash- 
ington's occasional cutting remarks as to his use- 
lessness, nor his father's and mother’s more out- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


39 


spoken complaints that he “ warn’t no good 
’sousin’ ’twas to walk arter Marse George, proud 
as a peacock ef he kin git a ole jacket or a 
p’yar o’ Marse George’s breeches fur ter go strut- 
tin’ roun’ in.” Aunt Sukey was very pious, and 
Uncle Jasper was a preacher, and held forth 
Sunday nights, in a disused corn-house on the 
place, to a large congregation of negroes from 
the neighboring places. But Billy showed no 
fondness whatever for these meetings, preferring 
to go to the Established Church with his young 
master every Sunday, sitting in a corner of the 
gallery, and going to sleep with much comfort 
and regularity as soon as he got there. Madam 
Washington always exacted of every one who 
went to church from her house that he or she 
should repeat the clergyman’s text on coming 
home, and Billy was no exception to the rule. 
On Sunday, therefore, instead of joining the gay 
procession of youths and young men, all hand- 
somely mounted, who rode along the highway 
after church, George devoted his time on his 
way home to teaching Billy the text. The boy 
always repeated it very glibly when Madam 
Washington demanded it of him, and thereby 
won her favor, for a short time, once a week. 

On this particular morning, as George took 
the reins from Billy and jumped on the back of 


40 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


his sorrel colt, and galloped down the lane tow- 
ards the fodder-field, Billy, who was keen enough 
where his young master was concerned, saw that 
he was preoccupied. Contrary to custom, he 
would not take his dog Rattler with him, and 
Billy, dragging the whining dog by the neck, 
hauled him back into the house and up into 
George’s room, where the two proceeded to lay 
themselves down before the fire and go to sleep. 
An hour later the indignant Aunt Sukey found 
them, and but for George’s return just then it 
would have gone hard with Billy, anyhow. 

As George galloped briskly along in the crisp 
October morning, he felt within him the full ex- 
hilaration of youth and health and hope. He 
had not been able to sleep all night for thinking 
of that promised visit to Green way Court. He 
had heard of it — a strange combination of hunt- 
ing-lodge and country-seat in the mountains, 
where Lord Fairfax lived, surrounded by depend- 
ants, like a feudal baron. George had never in 
his life been a hundred miles away from home. 
He had been over to Mount Yernon since his 
brother Laurence's marriage, and the visit had 
charmed him so that his ever prudent mother 
had feared that the simpler and plainer life at 
Feny Farm would be distasteful to him; for 
Mount Yernon was a fine, roomy country-house, 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


41 


where Laurence Washington and his handsome 
young wife, both rich, dispensed a splendid hos- 
pitality. There was a great stable full of sad- 
dle-horses and coach- horses, a retinue of servants, 
and a continual round of entertaining going on. 
Laurence Washington had only lately retired 
from the British army, and his house was the 
favorite resort for the officers of the British war- 
ships that often came up the Potomac, as well 
as the officers of the military post at Alexandria. 
Although he enjoyed this gay and interesting 
life at Mount Yernon, George had left it with- 
out having his head turned, and came back quite 
willingly to the sober and industrious regularity 
of the home at Ferry Farm. He was the favor- 
ite over all his brothers with Laurence Washing- 
ton and his wife, and it was a well-understood 
fact that, if they died without children, George 
was to inherit the splendid estate of Mount Yer- 
non. Madam Washington had been a kind step- 
mother to Laurence Washington, and he repaid 
it by his affection for his half-brothers and young 
sister. In those days, when the eldest son was 
the heir, it seemed quite natural that George, as 
next eldest, should have preference, and should 
be the next person of consequence in the family 
to his brother Laurence. 

He spent an hour riding over the place, seeing 


42 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


that the fodder had been properly stripped from 
the stalks in a field, looking after the ferry-boats, 
giving an eye to the feeding of the stock, and a 
sharp investigation of the stables, and returned 
to the house by seven o’clock. Precisely at seven 
o’clock every morning all the children, servants, 
and whatever guests there were in the house 
assembled in the sitting-room, where prayers were 
read. In his father’s time the master of the 
house had read these prayers, and after his death 
Laurence, as the head of the family, had taken 
up this duty ; but since his marriage and removal 
to Mount Vernon it had fallen upon George. 

When he entered the room he found his moth- 
er waiting for him, as usual, with little Mistress 
Betty and the three younger boys. The ser- 
vants, including Billy, who had already been re- 
ported by Aunt Sukey, were standing around 
the wall. After an affectionate good-morning 
to his mother, George, with dignity and rever- 
ence, read the family prayers in the Book of 
Common Prayer. His mother was as calm and 
as collected as usual, but in the small velvet bag 
she carried over her arm lay an important letter, 
received between the time that George left the 
house in the morning and his return. Prayers 
over, breakfast was served, George sitting in his 
father's place at the head of the table, and Mad- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


43 


am Washington talking calmly over every-day 
matters. 

“ I do not know what we are to do with that 
boy Billy,” she said. “ This morning, when he 
ought to have been picking up chips for the kitch- 
en, he was lying in front of your fireplace with 
Rattler, both of them sound asleep.” 

George, instead of being scandalized at this, 
only smiled a little. 

“ I do not know which is the most useless,” 
exclaimed Madam Washington, with energy, 
“ the dog or that boy !” 

George ceased smiling at this ; he did not like 
to have Billy too severely commented on, and 
deftly turned the conversation. “Lord Fairfax 
again asked me, w T hen we were crossing the river 
last night, to visit him at Greenway Court. I 
should like very much to go, mother. I believe 
I would rather go even than to spend Christmas 
at Mount Vernon, for I have been to Mount Ver- 
non, but I have never been to Greenway, or to 
any place like it.” 

“ The earl sent me a letter this morning on 
the subject before he left Fredericksburg,” re- 
plied Madam Washington, quietly. 

The blood flew into George's face, but he spoke 
no word. His mother was a person who did not 
like to be questioned. 


44 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


“ You may read it,” she continued, handing it 
to him out of her bag. 

It was sealed with the huge crest of the Fair- 
faxes, and was written in the beautiful penman- 
ship of the period. It began : 

“ Honored Madam,— The promise you graciously made 
me, that your eldest son, Mr. George Washington, might visit 
me at Greenway Court, gave me both pride and pleasure ; 
and will you not add to that pride and pleasure by per- 
mitting him to return with me when I pass through Fred- 
ericksburg again on my wav home two days hence ? Do not, 
honored madam, think that I am proposing that your son 
spend his whole time with me in sport and pleasure. While 
both have their place iu the education of the young, I con- 
ceive, honored madam, that your son has more serious busi- 
ness in hand — namely, the improvement of his mind, and 
the acquiring of those noble qualities and graces which dis- 
tinguish the gentleman from the lout. 

“ He would have at Green way, at least, the advantage of the 
best minds in England as far as they can be writ iu books, 
and for myself, honored madam, I will be as kind to him as 
the tenderest father. If you can recall with any pleasure 
the days so long ago, when we were both twenty years 
younger, and when your friendship, honored madam, was 
the chief pleasure, as it always will be the chief honor, of 
my life, I beg that you will not refuse m} r request. I am, 
madam, with sentiments of the highest esteem, 

“Your obedient, humble servant, 

“Fairfax.” 

“ Have you thought it over, mother ?” 

“ Yes, my son ; but, as you know I am a 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


45 


person of deliberation, I will think it over yet 
more.” 

“I will give up Christmas at Mount Vernon, 
mother, if you will let me go.” 

“ I have already promised your brother that 
you shall spend Christmas with him, and I can- 
not recall my word.” 

George said no more. He got up, and, bowing 
respectfully to his mother, went out. He had 
that morning more than his usual number of 
tasks to do ; but all day long he was in a dream. 
For all his steadiness and willingness to lead a 
quiet life with his mother and the younger chil- 
dren at Ferry Farm, he was by nature adventur- 
ous, and for more than a year he had chafed in- 
wardly at the narrow and uneventful existence 
which he led. He had early announced that he 
wished to serve either in the army or the navy, 
but, like all people, young or old, who have strong 
determination, he bided his time quietly, doing 
meanwhile what came to hand. He had been 
everv whit as much fascinated with Lord Fair- 
fax as the elder man had been with him ; and 
the prospect of a visit to Green way — of listening 
to his talk of the great men he had known, of 
seeing the mountains for the first time in his life, 
and of hunting and sporting in their wilds, of 
taking lessons in fencing from old Lance, of look- 


46 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


ing over Lord Fairfax’s books —was altogether 
enchanting. He had a keen taste for social life, 
and his Christmas at Mount Yernon, with all its 
gayety and company, had been the happiest two 
weeks of his life. Suppose his mother should 
agree to let him go to Greenway with the earl 
and then come back by way of Mount Y ernon ? 
Such a prospect seemed almost too dazzling. He 
brought his horse down to a walk along the cart- 
road through the woods he was traversing while 
he contemplated the delightful vision ; and then, 
suddenly coming out of his day-dream, he pulled 
himself together, and, striking into a sharp gallop, 
tried to dismiss the subject from his mind. This 
he could not do, but he could exert himself so 
that no one would guess what was going on in 
his mind, and in this he was successful. 

Two o’clock was the dinner -hour at Ferry 
Farm, and a few minutes before that time George 
walked up from the stables to the house. Little 
Betty was on the watch, and ran down to the 
gate to meet him. Their mother, looking out of 
the window, saw them coming across the lawn 
arm in arm, Betty chattering like a magpie and 
George smiling as he listened. They were two 
of the handsomest and healthiest and brightest- 
eyed young creatures that could be imagined, 
and Madam Washington’s heart glowed with a 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


47 


pride which she believed sinful and strove una- 
vailing^ to smother. 

At dinner Madam Washington and George 
and Betty talked, the three younger boys being 
made to observe silence, after the fashion of the 
day. Neither Madam Washington nor George 
brought up the subject of the earl’s visit, al- 
though it was a tremendous event in their quiet 
lives. But little Betty, who was the talkative 
member of the family, at once began on him. 
His coach and horses and outriders were grand, 
she admitted ; but why an earl, with bags of 
money, should choose to wear a plain brown suit, 
no better than any other gentleman, Mistress 
Betty vowed she could not understand. His 
kneebuckles were not half so fine as George’s, 
and brother Laurence had a dozen suits finer 
than the earl’s. 

“ His sword-hilt is worth more than this plan- 
tation,” remarked George, by way of mitigating 
Betty’s scorn for the earl’s costume. Betty 
acknowledged that she had never seen so fine a 
sword-hilt in her life, and then innocently re- 
marked that she wished she were going to visit 
at Greenway Court with George. George’s face 
turned crimson, but he remained silent. He was 
a proud boy, and had never in his life begged 
for anything, but he wanted to go so badly that 


48 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


the temptation was strong in him to mount his 
horse without asking anybody's leave, and, tak- 
ing Billy and Battler with him, start off alone 
for the mountains. 

Dinner was over presently, and as they rose 
Madam Washington said, quietly : 

“ My son, I have determined to allow you to 
join Lord Fairfax, and I have sent an inquiry to 
him, an hour ago, asking at what time to-morrow 
you should meet him in Fredericksburg. You 

mav remain with him until December: but the 

%/ / 

first mild spell in December I wish } r ou to go 
down to Mount Vernon for Christmas, as I 
promised.” 

George’s delight was so great that he grew 
pale with pleasure. He would have liked to 
catch his mother in his arms and kiss her, but 
mother and son were chary of showing emotion. 
Therefore he only took her hand and kissed it, 
saying, breathlessly : 

“ Thank you, mother. I hardly hoped for so 
much pleasure.” 

“ But it is not for pleasure that I let you go,” 
replied his mother, who, according to the spirit 
of the age, referred everything to duty. “’Tis 
because I think my Lord Fairfax’s company wild 
be of benefit to you ; and as there is but little 
prospect of a school here this winter, and I have 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


49 


made no arrangements for a tutor, I must do 
something for your education, but that I cannot 
do until after Christmas. So, as I think you 
will be learning something of men as well as of 
books, I have thought it best, after reflecting 
upon it as well as I can, to let you go.” 

“I will promise you, mother, never to do or 
say anything while I am away from you that 
I would be ashamed for you to know,” cried 
George. 

Madam Washington smiled at this. 

“Your promise is too extensive,” she said. 
“ Promise me only that you will try not to do 
or say anything that will make me ashamed, and 
that will be enough.” 

George colored, as he answered : 

“ I dare say I promised too much, and so I will 
accept the change you make.” 

Here a wild howl burst upon the air. Billy, 
who had been standing behind George’s chair, 
understood well enough what the conversation 
meant, and that he was to be separated until after 
Christmas from his beloved “ Marse George.” 
Madam Washington, who had little patience with 
such outbreaks of emotion, sharply spoke to him. 
“ Be quiet, Billy !” 

Billy’s reply was a fresh burst of tears and 
wailing, which brought home to little Betty that 


50 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


George was about to leave them, and caused her 
to dissolve into tears and sobs, while Rattler, 
running about the room, and looking from one 
to the other, began to bark furiously. 

Madam Washington, standing up, calm, but ex- 
cessively annoyed at this commotion in her quiet 
house, brought her foot down with a light tap, 
which, however, meant volumes. Uncle Jasper 
too appeared, and was about to haul Billy off to 
condign punishment when George intervened. 

“ Hold your tongue, Billy,’' he said; and Billy, 
digging his knuckles into his eyes, subsided as 
quietly as he had broken forth. 

“ How go up to my room and take the dog, 
and stay there until I come,” continued George. 

Billy obeyed promptly. Betty, however, hav- 
ing once let loose the floodgates, hung around 
George’s neck and wept oceans of tears. George 
soothed her as best he could, but Betty would not 
be comforted, and was more distressed than ever 
when, in a little while, a note arrived from Lord 
Fairfax, saying he would leave Fredericksburg 
the next morning at sunrise if it would be con- 
venient to Mr. Washington to join him then. 


CHAPTER IV 

Before daybreak the next morning George 
came down-stairs, Billy following with his port- 
manteau. Madam Washington, little Betty, and 
all the house - servants were up and dressed, 
but it was thought best not to waken the three 
little boys, who slept on comfortably in their 
trundle-beds. The candles were lighted, and for 
the last time for two months, which seems long 
to the young, George had family prayers. His 
mother then took the book from him and read the 
prayers for travellers about to start on a journey. 
She was quite composed, for no woman ever 
surpassed Madam Washington in self-control; 
but little Betty still wept, and would not leave 
George’s side even while he ate his breakfast. 
There had been some talk of Betty’s going to 
Mount Vernon also for Christmas, and George, 
remembering this, asked his mother, as a last 
favor, that she would let Betty meet him there, 
whence he could bring her home. Madam Wash- 
ington agreed, and this quickly dried Betty’s 


52 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


tears. Billy acted in a mysterious manner. In- 
stead of being in vociferous distress, lie was quiet 
and even cheerful, so much so that a grin dis- 
covered itself on his countenance, which was 
promptly banished as soon as he saw Madam 
Washington’s clear, stern eyes travelling his way. 
George, feeling for poor Billy’s loneliness, had 
determined to leave Rattler behind for company ; 
but both Billy and Rattler were to cross the 
ferry with him, the one to bring the horse back, 
and the other for a last glimpse of his master. 

The parting was not so mournful, therefore, as 
it promised to be. George went into the cham- 
ber where his three little brothers slept, who 
were not wide awake enough to feel much re- 
gret at his departure. The servants all came 
out and he shook the hand of each, especially 
Uncle Jasper's, while Aunt Sukey embraced him. 
Ilis mother kissed him and solemnty blessed him, 
and the procession started. George mounted his 
own horse, while Betty, seated pillion-wise be- 
hind him, was to ride with him to the ferry. Un- 
cle Jasper and Aunt Sukey walked as far as the 
gate, and Billy, with Rattler at his heels and the 
portmanteau on his head, started off on a brisk 
run down the road. The day was breaking beau- 
tifully. A pale blue mist lay over the river and 
the woods. The fields, bare and brown, were 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


53 


covered with a white hoar-frost, and harbored 
flocks of partridges, which rose on whirring 
wings as the gray light turned to red and gold. 
In the chinquapin bushes along the road squir- 
rels chattered, and a hare running across the 
lane reminded George of his hare-traps, which 
he charged Betty to look to. But although Bet- 
ty would have died for him at any moment, she 
would not agree to have any hand in the trap- 
ping and killing of any living thing; so she 
would only promise to tell the younger boys to 
look after the traps. 

“And it won’t be long until Christmas,” said 
George, turning in his saddle and pressing Betty’s 
arm that was around him as they galloped along 
briskly; “and if I have a chance of sending a 
letter, I will write you one. Think, Betty, you 
will have a letter all to yourself ; you have never 
had one, I know.” 

“ I never had a letter all to myself,” answered 
Betty. For that was before the days of cheap 
postage, or postage at all as it is now ; and let- 
ters were rare and precious treasures. 

“And it will be very fine at Mount Ver- 
non — ladies, and even girls like you, wearing 
hoops, and dancing minuets every evening, while 
Black Tubal and Squirrel Tom play their fid- 
dles.” 


54 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


“ I like minuets well enough, but I like jigs 
and rigadoons better; and mother will not let 
me wear a hoop. But I am to have her white 
sarcenet silk made over for me. That I 
know.” 

“ You must practise on the harpsichord very 
much, Betty ; for at Mount Vernon there is one, 
and brother Laurence and his wife will want you 
to play before company.” 

Mistress Betty was not averse to showing off 
her great accomplishment, and received this very 
complaisantly. Altogether, what with the letter 
and the white sarcenet, she began to take a hope- 
ful rather than a despairing view of the coming 
two months. 

Arrived within sight of the ferry, George 
stopped, and lifted Betty off the horse. There 
was a foot-path across the fields to the house 
which made it but a short walk back, which 
Betty could take alone. The brother and sister 
gave each other one long and silent embrace — 
for they loved each other very dearly — and then, 
without a word, Betty climbed over the fence 
and walked rapidly homeward, while George 
made for the ferry, where Billy and the port- 
manteau awaited him. One of the small boats 
and two ferry-men, Yellow Dick and Sambo, took 
him across the river. The horse was to be car- 



GEORGE BIDS BETTY GOOD-BYE 







A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


55 


ried across for George to ride to the inn where 
Lord Fairfax awaited him, and Billy was to take 
the horse back again. 

The flush of the dawn was on the river when 
the boat pushed off, and George thought he had 
never seen it lovelier ; but like most healthy young 
creatures on pleasure bent, he had no sentimen- 
tal regrets. The thing he minded most was 
leaving Billy, because he was afraid the boy 
would be in constant trouble until his return. 
But Billy seemed to take it so debonairly that 
George concluded the boy had at last got over 
his strong disinclination to work for or think of 
anybody except “ Marse George.” 

The boat shot rapidly through the water, rowed 
by the stalwart ferry-men, and George was soon 
on the opposite shore. He bade good-bye to 
Yellow Dick and Sambo, and, mounting his horse, 
with Billy still trotting ahead with the portman- 
teau, rode off through the quaint old town to 
the tavern. It was a long, low building at the 
corner of two straggling streets, and signs of the 
impending departure of a distinguished guest 
were not wanting. Captain Benson, a militia of- 
ficer, kept the tavern, and in honor of the Earl of 
Fairfax had donned a rusty uniform, and was go- 
ing back and forth between the stable and the 
kitchen, first looking after his lordship’s break- 


56 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


fast and then after his lordship’s horses' break- 
fasts. He came bustling out when George rode 
up. 

“ Good-morning, Mr. Washington. 'Light, sir, 
’light. I understand you are going to Green way 
Court with his lordship. lie is now at his break- 
fast. Will you please to walk in ?” 

“No, I thank you, sir,” responded George. 
“ If you will kindly mention to Lord Fairfax 
that I am here, you will oblige me.” 

“ Certainly, sir, certainly,” cried Captain Ben- 
son, disappearing in the house. 

The travelling-chariot was out and the horses 
were being put to it under the coachman's super- 
intendence, while old Lance was looking after 
the luggage. He came up to George, and, giv- 
ing him the military salute, asked for Mr. Wash- 
ington's portmanteau. George could scarcely 
realize that he was going until he saw it safely 
stowed along with the earl's under the box-seat. 
He then determined to send Billy off before the 
earl made his appearance, for fear of a terrible 
commotion, after all, when Billy had to face the 
final parting. 

“ Now, Billy,” said George to him, very ear- 
nestly, “ you will not give my mother so much 
trouble as you used to, but do as you are told, 
and it will be better for you.” 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


57 


“ Yes, sub,” answered Billy, looking in George’s 
eyes without winking. 

“ And here is a crown for you,” said George, 
slipping one into Billy’s hand — poor George had 
only a few crowns in a purse little Betty had 
knitted for him. “ Now mount the horse and 
go home. Good-bye, Rattler, boy — all of Lord 
Fairfax's dogs, of every kind, shall not make me 
forget you.” 

Billy, without the smallest evidence of grief, 
but with rather a twinkle in his beady e} T es, 
shook his young master’s hand, jumped on the 
horse, and, whistling to Rattler, all three of 
George's friends disappeared down the village 
street. George looked after them for some min- 
utes and sighed at what was before Billy, but 
comforted himself by recalling the boy's sensi- 
ble behavior in the matter of the parting. In 
a few moments Lord Fairfax came out. George 
went up the steps to the porch, and, making his 
best bow, tried to say how much he felt the earl's 
kindness. True gratitude is not always glib, 
and was not with George, but the earl saw from 
the boy’s face the intense pleasure he experi- 
enced. 

“ You will sit with me, Mr. Washington,” said 
Lord Fairfax, “ and when you are tired of the 
chariot I will have one of my outriders give 


58 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


you a horse, and have him ride the wheel- 
horse.” 

“ Anything that your lordship pleases,” was 
George’s polite reply. 

The earl bade a dignified farewell to Captain 
Benson, who escorted him to the coach, and in a 
little while, with George by his side and the out- 
riders ahead, they were jolting along towards 
the open country. 

The earl talked a little for the first hour or 
two, pointing out objects in the landscape, and 
telling interesting facts concerning them, which 
George had never known before. After a while, 
though, he took down two books from a kind of 
shelf in the front of the coach, and handing one 
to George, said : 

“Here is a volume of the Spectator. You will 
find both profit and pleasure in it. Thirty years 
ago the Spectator was the talk of the day. It 
ruled London clubs and drawing-rooms, and its 
influence was not unfelt in politics.” The other 
book, George saw, was an edition of Horace in 
the original. As soon as the earl opened it he 
became absorbed in it. 

Hot so with George and the Spectator. Al- 
though fond of reading, and shrewd enough to 
see that the earl would have but a low opinion 
of a boy who could not find resources in books. 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


59 


what was passing before him was too novel and 
interesting, to a boy who had been so little away 
from home, to divide his attention with any- 
thing. The highway was fairly good, but the 
four roans took the road at such a rattling gait 
that the heavy chariot rolled and bumped and 
lurched like a ship at sea. So well made was it, 
though, and so perfect the harness, that not a 
bolt, a nut, or a strap gave way. The country 
for the first thirty miles was not unlike what 
George was accustomed to, but his keen eyes 
saw some difference as they proceeded towards 
the northwest. The day was bright and beauti- 
ful, a sharper air succeeding the soft Indian sum- 
mer of the few days preceding. The cavalcade 
made a vast dust, clatter, and commotion. Every 
homestead they passed was aroused, and people, 
white and black, came running out to see the 
procession. George enjoyed the coach very 
much at first, but he soon began to wish that 
he were on the back of one of the stout nags 
that rode ahead, and determined, as soon as they 
stopped for dinner, to take advantage of Lord 
Fairfax’s offer and to ask to ride. 

They had started soon after sunrise, and twelve 
o’clock found them more than twenty-five miles 
from Fredericksburg. They stopped at a road- 
side tavern for dinner and some hours’ rest. The 


60 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


tavern was large and comfortable, and boasted 
the luxury of a private room, where dinner was 
served to the earl and his young guest. The 
tavern-keeper himself carved for them, and al- 
though he treated the earl with great respect, 
saying “ My lord ” at every other word, accord- 
ing to the custom of the day, there was no servil- 
ity in his manner. Like everybody else, he was 
struck with George’s manner and appearance on 
first seeing him, and, finding out that he was the 
son of the late Colonel Augustine Washington, 
made the boy’s face glow with praise of his fa- 
ther. When the time came to start George 
made his request that he be allowed to ride a 
horse, and he was immediately given his choice 
of the four bays. He examined them all quick- 
ly, but with the eye of a natural judge of a 
horse, and unerringly picked out the best of the 
lot. “ Do not feel obliged to regulate your 
pace by ours," said the earl. “We are to sleep 
to-night at Farley’s tavern, only twenty miles 
from here, and so you present yourself by sun- 
down it is enough.” 

George mounted and rode off. He found the 
bay well rested by his two hours’ halt and ready 
for his work. He felt so much freer and hap- 
pier on horseback than in the chariot that he 
could not help wishing he could make the rest 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


61 


of the journey in that way. But he thought it 
would scarcely be polite to abandon the earl al- 
together, and determined to make the first stage 
in the coach every day. He rode on all the 
afternoon, keeping the high - road with ease, al- 
though towards the end it began to grow wilder 
and rougher. He reached Farle3 T ’s tavern some 
time before sundown, and his arrival giving ad- 
vance notice of the earl, everything was ready 
for him, even to a fine wild turkey roasting on 
the kitchen spit for supper. Like most of the 
road-liouses of the day, Farley’s was spacious 
and comfortable, though not luxurious. There 
was a private room there, too, with a roaring fire 
of hickory logs on the hearth, for the night had 
grown colder. At supper, when there was time 
to spare, old Lance produced a box, out of which 
he took some handsome table furniture and a 
pair of tall silver candlesticks. The supper was 
brought in smoking hot, Lance bearing aloft the 
wild turkey on a vast platter. He also brought 
forth a bottle of wine of superior vintage to 
anything that the tavern cellar could produce. 

The earl narrowly watched George as they 
supped together, talking meanwhile. He right- 
ly judged that table manners and deportment 
are a very fair test of one’s training in the nice- 
ties of life, and was more than ever pleased the 


62 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


closer he observed the boy. First, George proved 
himself a skilful carver, and carved the turkev 
with the utmost dexterity. This was an accom- 
plishment carefully taught him by his mother. 
Then, although he had the ravenous appetite of 
a fifteen-year-old boy after a long day's travel, he 
did not forget to be polite and attentive to the 
earl, who trifled with his supper rather than ate 
it. The boy took one glass of wine, and de- 
clined having his glass refilled. His conversa- 
tion was chiefly replies to questions, and were 
so apt that the earl every moment liked his 
young guest better and better. George was 
quite unconscious of the deep attention with 
which Lord Fairfax observed him. lie thought 
he had been asked to Green way out of pure 
good - nature, and rather wished to keep in the 
background so he should not make his host re- 
pent his hospitality. But a feeling, far deeper 
than mere good -nature, inspired the earl. He 
felt a profound interest in the boy, and was 
enough a judge of human nature to see that 
something remarkable might be expected of 
him. 

Soon after supper occurred the first inelegance 
on George’s part. In the midst of a sentence of 
the earl’s the boy suddenly and involuntarily 
gave a wide yawn. lie colored furiously, but 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


63 


Lord Fairfax burst into one of his rare laughs, 
and calling Lance, directed him to show Mr. 
Washington to his room. George was perfectly 
willing to go ; but when Lance, taking one of the 
tall candlesticks, showed him his room, his eyes 
suddenly came wide open, and the idea that 
Lance could tell him all about the siege of Bou- 
chain, and marching and starving and fighting 
with Marlborough, drove the sleep from his 
eyes like the beating of a drum. 

Beaching the room Lance put the candle on 
the dressing-table, and, standing at “ attention, 51 
asked : 

“Anything else, sir?” 

“Yes,” said George, seating himself on the 
edge of the bed. “ How long will it be before 

o o 

my Lord Fairfax needs you ?” 

“ About two hours, sir. His lordship sits late.” 

“ Then — then — ” continued George, with a lit- 
tle diffidence, “ I wish you would tell me some- 
thing about campaigning with the Duke of Marl- 
borough and Prince Eugene, and all about the 
siege of Bouchain.” 

Lance’s strong, weather-beaten face was sud- 
denly illuminated with a light that George had 
not seen on it before, and his soldierly figure 
unconsciously took a more military pose. 

“ ’Tis a long story, sir,” he said, “ and I was 


64 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


only a youngster and a private soldier; it is 
thirty-five years gone now.” 

“ That’s why I want you to tell it,” replied 
George. “ All the books are written by the offi- 
cers, but never a word have I heard from a man 
in the ranks. I have read the life of the great 
Duke of Marlborough, and also Prince Eugene, 
but it is a different thing to hear a man tell of 
the wars who has burned powder in them.” 

“ True, sir. And the Duke of Marlborough 
was the greatest soldier of our time. We have 
the Duke of Cumberland now — a brave general, 
sir, and brother to the king — but I warrant, had 
he been at the siege of Bouchain and in the 
Low Countries, he would have been licked worse 
than Marshal Villars.” 

“And Marshal Yillars was a very skilful gen- 
eral too,” said George, now thoroughly wide- 
awake. 

“ Certainly, sir, he was. The French are but 
a mean-looking set of fellows, but how they can 
fight ! And they have the best legs of any sol- 
diers in Europe ; and I am not so sure they have 
not the best heads. I fought ’em for twenty- 
five years — for I only quitted the service when 
I came with my Lord Fairfax to this new coun- 
try — and I ought to know. My time of enlist- 
ment was up, the great duke was dead, and 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


65 


there had been peace for so long that I thought 
soldiers in Europe had forgot to fight ; so when 
his lordship offered to bring me, I, who had nei- 
ther wife nor child, nor father nor mother, nor 
brother nor sister, was glad to come with him. 
I had served in his lordship’s regiment, and he 
knew me because I had once — but never mind 
that, sir.” 

“No,” cried George. “Go on.” 

“Well, sir,” said Lance, looking sheepish, “I 
shouldn’t have spoke of it ; but the fact is, that 
once when we were transporting powder from 
the magazine the wagon broke down and a case 
exploded. It was a miracle that all of us were 
not killed ; three poor fellows were marked for 
life, and retired on two shillings a day for it. 
There were plenty of sparks lying around, and I 
put some of them out, and we saved the rest of 
the powder. That’s all, sir.” 

“I understand,” answered George, smiling. 
“ It was a gallant thing, and no doubt you saved 
some lives as well as some powder.” 

“ Maybe so, sir,” said Lance, a dull red show- 
ing under the tan and sunburn of more than fifty 
years. “ My Lord Fairfax made more of it than 
’twas worth. So, when he had left the army, 
and I thought he had forgot me, he wrote and 
asked if I would come to America with him, and 


66 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


I came. Often, in the winter-time, the earl 
does not see a white face for months except 
mine, and then he forgets that we are master 
and man, and only remembers that he is my old 
commander and I am an old soldier. The earl 
was a } T oung cornet in 1710-12, and was with 
the armies in the Low Countries, where we had 
given Marshal Villars a trouncing, and he gave 
Prince Eugene a trouncing back, in exchange. 
So, sometimes, of the long winter nights, the 
earl sends for me and reads to me out of books 
about that last campaign of the Duke of Marl- 
borough's, and sa} 7 s to me, ‘ Lance, how was 
this V And, 4 Lance, do you recollect that V Be- 
ing only a soldier, I never did know what we 
were marching and countermarching for, nor so 
much as what we were fighting for ; but when 
the earl asks me what we were doing when we 
marched from Lens to Aire, or from Arleux to 
Bachuel, I can tell him all about the march — 
whether 'twas in fine or rainy weather, and how 
we got across the rivers, and what rations we had; 
we often did not have any, and the mounseers 
were not much better off. But, Mr. Washing- 
ton, a Frenchman’s stomach is not like an Eng- 
lish man’s. They can sup on soup maigre and 
lentils after a hard day's march, and then get 
up and shake a leg while another fellow fiddles. 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


67 


But an Englishman has to have his beef, sir, and 
bacon and greens, and a good thick porridge 
with beans in it. I think all the nourishment 
the Frenchmen get goes into their legs, for they 
will march day and night for their Grand Mo- 
narque, as they call him, and are always ready to 
fight.” 

“ I hope we shall not have to fight the French 
up in Pennsylvania to make them keep their 
boundaries,” said George, after a while, in a tone 
which plainly meant that he hoped very much 
they would have to fight, and that he would be 
in the thick of the scrimmage. “ And now tell 
me how the Duke of Marlborough looked in 
action, and all about Prince Eugene, and the 
siege of Bouchain, until it is time to go to the 
earl. But first sit down, for you have had a 
hard day’s travel.” 

“ Thank you, sir,” said Lance, sitting down 
stiffly, and snuffing the candle with his fingers. 


CHAPTER Y 


“You are asking me more, sir,” said Lance, 
with something like a grim smile on his counte- 
nance, “ than I could tell you in a month, or two 
months. But I can tell you how the Duke of 
Marlborough looked in battle, for I belonged to 
the foot-soldiers, and we were generally standing 
still for a time, until the cavalry had showed us 
where we were wanted, and we could see the 
generals riding over the field. The duke, you 
must know, sir, was not so very young when I 
served under him, but he was still the handsomest 
man in the British army. They say when he was 
a lieutenant that all the great ladies fell in love 
with him, and the one he married, I have read 
in a book, he was much in love with, but a deal 
more afraid of her than ever he was of the Grand 
Monarque and all his armies. They sav it was 
a joke in England that the great duke obeyed his 
duchess and trembled at her word. But I dare 
say he is not the only man who ever ruled men 
and then let his wife rule him. The duke was a 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


69 


noble sight at parade, with his splendid chest- 
nut charger, his uniform of red and gold, his 
chapeau with plumes, and his great periwig. 
But, to my mind, he was a finer sight when the 
French artillerymen were ploughing up the 
ground — the French are monstrous good gun- 
ners, Mr. Washington, and hang on to their bat- 
teries like the devil — and the musketry scream- 
ing around, and that old fox, Marshal Villars, 
was hammering us in a dozen places at once. 
Then the duke was as calm as a May morn- 
ing, and was full of jokes with his officers, and 
whistling to himself a queer kind of a tune with 
no tune to it. But old Villars never caught him 
napping, and was caught napping himself once. 
That was the time we took Bouchain.” 

George was very much on his guard not to let 
Lance know that he had never heard of Bou- 
chain — or if he had read of it in the life of 
Marlborough, he had forgotten all about it — so 
he only said : 

“Oh yes — about Bouchain.” 

“ Well, sir, in the spring of 1711 the great 
duke arrived in the Low Countries — and glad 
enough were all to see him — for not only, we 
knew, we could lick the French and Bavarians 
if we were under him — but the army was always 
paid when the great duke commanded, and fed 


70 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


and clothed, too. I remember when he came 
back that time he brought us forty thousand 
woollen shirts. The kings and queens thought 
that we, the common soldiers, did not know what 
was sroing on, but we knew the stay-at-homes 
were trying to ruin the duke at court, and that 
he had hardly been treated civilly when he got 
to England, and that three colonels— Meredith, 
Macartney, and Hey wood— had been cashiered 
for drinking 4 confusion to the enemies of the 
Duke of Marlborough.’ It was while he was 
away that the allied arm} T — as ours and our allies 
was called — had got a handsome drubbing at 
Almanza, in Spain, and I can’t say that any of 
us cried over it; only we thought we might 
get drubbed ourselves if the duke didn’t come 
back. So you may be sure, Mr. Washington, 
that when the news came that the whole army 
was to rendezvous at Orchies, and the duke had 
landed in Holland on his way to us, we felt 
better. The queen and the ministry and the 
parliament might look coldly on him, but on 
that bleak April day, when he rode into our can- 
tonments at Orchies, every British soldier raised 
his voice in a huzza for the great duke. 

“ Marshal Yillars had been all the winter throw- 
ing up redoubts and all sorts of works along his 
lines, from Bouchain, on the Scheldt, which lay 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


71 


here” — Lance stooped down at this and drew 
an imaginary line on the floor, and George got 
off the bed, and, taking the candle, sat down on 
the floor the better to understand — “along the 
Sanset, which runs this way. Lord, Mr. Wash- 
ington, I'll have to use the boot-jack to show you 
about Bouchain and Arras.” 

“ And here are the snuffers, v ’ eagerly added 
George, “for Arras; and here is my pocket- 
rule, and a piece of chalk.” 

Lance seized the chalk. 

“ The very thing, sir !” And he drew a very 
fair map upon the floor, George watching him 
with bright, intelligent eyes, and afterwards 
taking the chalk, straightened up Lance's rude 
sketch. 

“ That’s right, sir,” said Lance, getting down 
on the floor himself. “ It’s a pleasure to show a 
young gentleman like you, sir, how it was done, 
because you have the understanding of it, if I 
may make bold to say so. 

“ Old Villars, then, being a monstrous sharp 
general, said to himself, ‘ Aha ! I’ll beat the long 
roll on Marlborough now,’ and he had the 
astonishing impudence to call his lines ‘Marl- 
borough's ne plus ultra] whatever that is, sir ; I 
don’t exactly know myself, but it is some sort of 
impudence in French.” 


72 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


George laughed a little to himself at Lance's 
notion of the old Latin phrase, but he was too 
much interested in the story to interrupt. 

“ Marshal Villars had near sixty thousand men, 
and such a gang of ragamuffins, Mr. Washing- 
ton, you never saw. But they'd rather fight 
than eat ; and let an old soldier tell you, sir, 
whenever you meet the French, don’t count on 
licking ’em because they are half starved and 
half naked ; I believe they fight better the worse 
off they are for victuals and clothes. The duke 
spent two or three weeks studying their works, 
and when he got through with it he knew more 
about them than Marshal Villars himself did. 
The summer had come, and the streams were no 
longer swollen, and the duke begun to lay his 
plans to trap old Villars. The first thing he did 
was to have a lot of earthworks thrown up at 
the place where he did not intend to break 
through the French lines. The French, of course, 
got wind of this, and drew all their forces away 
from Vitry, where the duke really meant to 
break through and cross the Sanset. All the 
Frenchmen were fooled, and Marshal Villars the 
worst of all. So when, one bright morning in 
July, the French scouts reported that Marlbor- 
ough himself, with fifty squadrons of horse, was 
on the march for the earthworks he had made 


SKETCHING TIIE DEFENCES ON THE SCHELDT 








A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


73 


where he did not mean to cross, old Villars was 
cocksure he had him. The duke with his fifty 
squadrons marched a good day’s march away 
from Vitry, the French scampering off in his 
direction and concentrating their troops just 
where the duke wanted them. Meanwhile, ev- 
ery mother’s son of us was in marching order 
— the artillery ready, the pontoons ready, ev- 
erybody and everything ready. About mid- 
day, seeing the French had been fooled, the 
order was given to march, and off we put for 
Yitry. As soon as we reached the river we 
laid the pontoons, and were drawn up on the 
bank just waiting for the word to cross. It 
was then late in the evening, but we had got 
news that the duke had turned around, and was 
making for us as fast as the horses of his squad- 
rons could lay their hoofs to the ground. About 
nine o’clock we saw the dust of the advance 
guard down the highway ; we heard the gallop- 
ing of the horses long before. The instant the 
duke appeared the crossing begun, and by sun- 
rise thirty thousand men had crossed and had 
joined General Hompesch’s division of ten thou- 
sand between Oise and Estrum — and now we 
were within Villars’s lines without striking a 
blow. ’Twas one of the greatest marches that 
ever was, Mr. Washington — ten leagues between 


74 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


nine in the evening and ten the next morning 
— thirty thousand infantry, artillery, cavalry, 
miners, and sappers. 

“Villars found out what was in the wind 
about midnight, and at two o’clock in the morn- 
ing he turned around, and the whole French 
army came in pursuit of us; and if you will be- 
lieve it, sir, the} 7 marched better than we did, and 
by eleven o’clock in the morning the beggars 
were as near Bouchain as we, for Bouchain was 
what we were after. ’Twas a strong fortress, 
and the key to that part of France ; and if we 
could get it we could walk to the heart of 
France any day we liked. 

“ Old Villars wanted to bring us to fight, but 
the duke was too wary for him. He sat down 
before Bouchain, that had a large garrison of 
picked men, commanded by the bravest officers 
in the French army, with stores, guns, and am- 
munition in plenty. The duke had to make a 
causeway over a morass before he could get at 
’em at all, and there was Villars behind us, ready 
to cut us to pieces, and that stubborn fortress 
in front. It was the hardest siege I ever knew, 
though it was not the longest. The people at 
home were clamoring for the duke to fight Vil- 
lars instead of taking Bouchain ; but the duke 
knew that if he could get the fortress he would 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


75 


have the control of three great rivers — the Scheldt, 
the Meuse, and the Lys — and then we could cut 
off any army the Grand Monarque could send 
against us. 'Tis a deal harder, sir, to keep men’s 
spirits up in a siege than in a battle. The army 
v r ould rather have been fighting Villars any 
day ; but there we were, laying trenches, mount- 
ing our guns, and every day closing in on that 
town. The duke was very anxious after a while 
to know w T hat the condition of the town was 
within the bastions, and every young cornet and 
ensign in the army wanted to risk his skin by 
sneaking in and finding out. But while the 
duke was turning this over in his mind it hap- 
pened that the enemy sent us a flag of truce in 
regard to an armistice. The duke did not want 
an armistice, but he wanted mightily to know 
how things were looking inside, so he agreed to 
send a flag of truce back. The French, though, 
are not to be easily outwitted, and they made it 
a condition that the officers sent with the flag be 
blindfolded. Three officers went in ; but they 
had their sashes tied around their eyes, and the 
only thing they saw when they had been led 
blindfolded for a half-mile through the town 
and into the citadel was a very handsome room 
in which the commandant received them. They 
talked awhile, but did not come to any terms; 


76 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


and then the commandant very politely invited 
them to take some refreshment, and a regular 
feast was set out for them — just to make them 
think that provisions were plenty — and the 
French officers who dined with them ate scarce- 
ly anything. But they looked gaunt and hol- 
low-eyed enough, and I warrant they fell to as 
soon as the English officers left. So, after all, 
Lord Fairfax was the one to get in.” 

“Was anybody with him?” asked George. 

“Well, sir — the fact is, sir — I was with him.” 

George jumped up off the floor, and, seizing 
Lance’s hand, wrung it hard in his enthusiasm. 
Lance smiled one of his grim smiles. 

“ Young gentlemen are apt to think more of a 
little thing like that than it’s worth,” was the 
old soldier’s commentary on this, as George 
again seated himself on the floor and with elo- 
quent and shining eyes besought Lance to tell 
him of his entrance into the besieged fortress. 

“It was about a week after that, when one 
night, as I was toasting a piece of cheese on a 
ramrod over the fire, up comes quite a nice-look- 
ing young woman and begins to jabber to me 
in French. She had on a red petticoat and a 
blue bodice, like the peasant women in those 
parts wear, and a shawl around her, and a cap 
on her head ; but she did not look like a peasant, 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


77 


but rather like a town milliner. She had a bas- 
ket of eggs in her hand, as the people sometimes 
brought us to sell, though, poor things, they had 
very few eggs or chickens, or anything else. 
Now I could speak the French lingo tolerably, 
for I had served so many years where it was 
spoke, so we begun bargaining for the eggs, and 
she kept up a devil of a chattering. At last we 
agreed on two pistoles for the lot, and I handed 
out the money, when suddenly she flew into a 
rage, threw the money in my face, and, what 
was worse, began to pelt me with sticks and 
stones and even the eggs. That brought some 
of my comrades around, and, to my surprise, she 
begun to talk in a queer sort of French-English, 
savins' I had cheated her, and a lot more stuff, 
and, stamping on the ground, demanded to be 
taken to an officer. Just then two young of- 
ficers happened to be passing, and they stopped 
to ask what the row was about. The young 
woman then poured forth her story, and I was 
in an ace of being put in the guard-house when 
she whispered something to one of them, and 
he started as if he had been shot. Then he 
whispered it to the other one, and presently all 
three — the young woman and the two officers — 
begun to laugh as if they would crack their 
sides. This' was not very pleasant for me, stand- 


78 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


ing there like a post, with rage in my heart ; the 
more so, when one of the officers, laughing still, 
told me it was all right, and I could go back to 
my cheese and ramrod, and they went off in 
one direction in the darkness and the young 
woman in another. They were hardly out of 
sight when back comes the voung woman again. 
As you may think, I never wanted to clap my 
eyes on her again ; but she slapped me on the 
shoulder and said, ‘ Lance, my man, don’t you 
know me?’ and it was — it was — ” 

George was so eager at this point that he 
crawled on all fours up to Lance and gazed 
breathlessly into his face. 

“It was Lord Fairfax dressed up as a woman! 
And he sa}^s, when I had come to myself a little, 
for I nearly dropped dead with surprise, ‘ If I 
can fool my own men and my own brother 
officers, I ought to be able to fool the French- 
men into letting me into the town.’ And sure 
enough, Mr. Washington, that was exactly what 
he did.” 

Lance paused to get the full dramatic effect of 
this. It was not wasted on his young listener, 
for George gave a gasp of astonishment that 
spoke volumes, and his first words, when speech 
returned to him, were: 

“ Go on — go on quick !” 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


79 


“Well, sir, Lord Fairfax told me that he had 
a scheme to get in the town as a woman, and 
I was to go with him as his servant, because I 
could speak the lingo, and on the frontier there 
they have so many accents that they couldn’t tell 
if you were a Dutchman or an Englishman or 
a Russian or a Prussian ; and, besides, my lord 
said, my French had a High-Dutch twang that 
couldn’t be excelled. He was a week thinking 
it over and practising in his tent. Of course, 
he didn’t tell but one or two persons w T hat he 
was after; he meant it to be as secret as possi- 
ble. So when he w r ould send for me to his tent 
at night every crack and cranny would be 
stopped, and there would be just one or two 
young officers putting the earl through his paces, 
as it were. He was a slim, handsome young man 
then, and when he got a woman’s wig on, and a 
little rouge, and was dressed in the latest fashion 
with a great hoop — for he meant to represent a 
lady, not a peasant woman — anybody would 
have taken him for a pretty young lady. The 
hoop and the sack and all the fallals a lady 
would wear were of real service to him, as he 
could wear his uniform under them, and so, if he 
should be found out and arrested, he would be 
entitled to be treated as a prisoner of war. If he 
had been caught in the French lines without his 


80 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


uniform he would have been strung up in short 
order as a sp}q according to the articles of war. 
I kept my uniform on too, but that was a simple 
matter, as I was only disguised by another suit 
of man’s clothing put on over it. 

“ My lord had something else under his hoop 
besides his uniform — a good rapier, with a To- 
ledo blade; and his lace neck-handkerchief was 
fastened with a jewelled dagger that was more 
than a toy. He was to be Madame Geoffroy in 
search of her husband, who was supposed to be 
in the garrison, and I was to be a great, stupid, 
faithful Alsatian servant, and my name was to 
be Jacques; and my name is Peter, sir. I had 
no arms, only a great stick ; but there was a 
knob in that stick, and when I pulled out that 
knob I had a sword. 

“ We used to practise of a night in the tent. 
My lord had merriment in him then, and officers 
always like a lark ; and it would have made you 
laugh, Mr. Washington, to have seen my lord, 
all dressed up as a woman, pretending to cry, 
and holding his handkerchief to his face while 
he rehearsed the story he was making up to the 
two young officers. It was a yarn all about the 
supposed Madame Geoffroy’s travels in search of 
her husband, and her delight when she heard he 
was one of the officers of the Bouchain garrison ; 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


81 


and, of course, she would be told by somebody 
that there was no such officer in the garrison, 
and then she was to give a screech and fall over, 
and I was to catch her and beg her to control 
herself. Oh, it was as good as play-acting! 
Often, when I have thought of that adventure, 
and have remembered how my lord looked then 
and how he looks now — so serious and grave, 
and as if he never played a prank in his life — I 
could hardly persuade myself it was the same 
man. Well, Mr. Washington, after we had got 
it all straight, one dark August night we ran 
the sentries — that is, we slipped past them in the 
dark. They thought we were deserters, although 
why anybody should desert from our camp, where 
we had both victuals and drink in plenty, to go 
to Bouchain, where they had neither, nobody 
could make out. However, we heard the shots 
cracking behind us as we managed to pick our 
way through the morass, and truly, sir, I think 
we were in more danger of our lives while cross- 
ing that morass in the dark between the English 
and French lines than at any other time. It was 
terrible work, but we managed to get to a solid 
piece of ground, covered with underbrush, where 
our outfit was concealed. Luckily we had to 
conceal our clothes, for we were covered with 
black mud, and we had a time scraping it off our 


82 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


hands and faces. At last, though, after half an 
hour’s hard work there in the swamp, we were 
dressed. We then had to steal about a mile off, 
through the undergrowth, to the right of the 
French lines. This would have been easy enough 
for us except for my lord’s toggery, but the 
little rents and stains we got upon us gave the 
more color to the story we had to tell of a long 
day's travel and many mishaps on the way. 

“ After a while, sir, we got out on the open high- 
wav, and then we took breath and made for the 
French sentries. I tied a white handkerchief on 
to my long stick, and we marched along until we 
got to the first outpost ; and when the sentry lev- 
elled his piece and asked us ‘ Who goes there V 
my lord advanced and said, in a woman's voice, 
‘ A distressed lady.' The night was dark, but the 
sentry could see it was a lady, and then my 
lord said, 4 1 am Madame Geoffroy, the wife of a 
French officer, and I desire you to bring the 
officer of the guard to me at once.’ That sound- 
ed straight enough, so the soldier took a little 
whistle from his belt and whistled, and pretty 
quickly a smart young lieutenant stepped up. 

“ The supposed Madame Geoffroy had then sunk 
upon the ground, pretending to be almost faint- 
ing with fatigue, and after this, Mr. Washington, 
I will make bold to call my lord Madame Geof- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


83 


froy during the whole of this adventure ; for 
nobody thought he was anything but a woman, 
and sometimes I had to rub my eyes and ask if 
I wasn’t really named Jacques, and Madame 
Geoffroy and her big hoop and her lost husband 
weren’t real. 

“ The Frenchmen are monstrous polite, as you 
know, sir, and when the lieutenant saw a lady 
sighing and moaning on the ground he took off 
his hat and bowed low, and asked what he could 
do for her. 

“ 4 Let me see the commandant of the garrison 
for only one moment !’ cried Madame Geoffroy, 
clasping her hands. 4 My husband — my poor, 
brave husband ! Oh, sir, have some pity on a 
distracted woman, who has travelled nearly 
seven hundred leagues in search of her husband.’ 

‘“Was your husband an officer in Marshal 
Villars’s army, madame,’ asked the lieutenant, 
bowing again. 

“ ‘ He was — and is, I hope,’ said madame. ‘ He 
was one of the King’s Musketeers, but was taken 
prisoner at Oudenarde, and on being exchanged 
he joined Montbrasin’s regiment because it was 
on the frontier ; and since that day, a year ago, 
I have been unable to find any trace of him. I 
have strong hopes he is living, for I have no 
proof that he is dead ; and knowing that Colonel 


84 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


Montbrasin is the commandant of the garrison 
of Bouchain, I have made my way here, with 
incredible difficulty, even through the English 
lines.’ Kow this was really a very clever speech, 
for the King’s Musketeers was a crack regiment, 
being the Grand Monarque’s own body-guard, 
and no man was admitted into it unless he was 
of the best blood of France. So the lieutenant 
thought Madame Geoffroy was a great lady. 

“ ‘ Madame,’ said he, ‘ it is not in my power to 
promise you an interview with the commandant, 
but I will conduct you with pleasure to my su- 
perior officer, who commands the main entrance 
to the town.” 

u At that madame jumped up so sprightly and 
started to walk so fast that I was afraid the lieu- 
tenant would suspect her. But that is just like 
the French, Mr. Washington. One minute they 
are in the dolly dumps, so that you would think 
they could not live, and the next the } 7 are caper- 
ing about, and laughing and singing as if they 
never had the dolly dumps in their lives. Otf 
we set for the main gate. We walked along the 
intrenchments, and I kept my eyes open, and in 
spite of the half-darkness I saw a good many 
things that they would rather we hadn’t seen. 
Their works were in a bad way, and our siege- 
guns had done their duty. 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


85 


“ Arrived at the gate-house the young lieuten- 
ant asked for the officer in command — Captain 
Saussier. So Captain Saussier came out, and 
madame went through all her story again. The 
captain ogled her, and it was all I could do to 
keep my countenance when I saw that the cap- 
tain and the lieutenant were trying to cut one 
another out. They made no bones at all of tak- 
ing her to see the commandant, particularly as 
she said she did not wish to stay, except until 
daylight the next morning, for in a besieged 
town they don’t want any non-combatants to 
eat up the provender. But although they were 
willing enough for her to go in, they refused to 
let me. She made no objection to this, which 
surprised me ; but in a moment she fell into one 
of those fits we had rehearsed for the command- 
ant’s benefit, when he should tell her, as we 
knew he would, that he had never seen or heard 
of her husband. I came forward then with 
smelling-salts, and presently she revived. That 
scared the officers a little, for the bravest of- 
ficer in the world would rather be out of the 
way when a woman begins to cry and kick and 
scream. As soon as they led her towards the 
gate she had another fit, and as good a fit as I 
ever saw in my life, sir. Then I came running, 
of course, with the smelling-salts. The captain 


86 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


evidently did not want her on his hands entirely 
as long as she was in that condition, so he said 
perhaps — ahem ! — it might be better to take her 
servant along. 

“‘Oh, my good, faithful Jacques!’ cried she. 
‘It would be a great comfort if I could have 
him with me in this trying time !’ So they 
passed me in the gates along with her. 

“She never stopped chattering for a moment 
while she was walking through the streets with 
the captain, telling a long rigmarole about her 
travels ; but she used her eves as well as I used 
mine. The town was horribly knocked to pieces 
— houses falling down, the streets encumbered 
with rubbish, and several breaches made in the 
walls. They had managed to repair the breach- 
es after a fashion, for the French understand 
fortifications better than we do ; but there was 
no doubt, from what we saw in that walk at 
nine o’clock at night, that the town and fortifi- 
cations had suffered terribly. And there were no 
women or children to be seen, which showed 
that they had sent them all away, for some will 
remain in a besieged town as long as there is 
anything to feed them on. 

“ When we reached the citadel we noticed there 
were not near enough cannon to defend it ; so 
we knew that they had been forced to take the 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


87 


guns to place on the ramparts. At last, after 
going through many long passages and winding 
stairs, w r e were ushered into the commandant’s 
presence. He was a tall, soldierly looking man, 
and he received madame very politely. The 
captain told the story of her tremendous efforts 
to get there and her trouble, madame all the 
time sighing and weeping. But here came in a 
frightful thing, sir. There had been a Captain 
Geoff ro} 7 , an officer in Marshal Villars’s army, 
and I felt myself turning pale when the com- 
mandant offered to let madame remain in the 
town twenty-four hours until he could find out 
something about this Geoffrov. But madame’s 
wit saved her. 

“ 6 Pray,’ said she, clasping her hands, ‘ what 
was this M. Geoffroy like ?” 

“ ‘ Tall,’ said the commandant, ‘ with a swarthy 
skin and black hair.’ 

“ ‘ Ah,’ cried she, muffling her face in her 
handkerchief, ‘ it could not have been my hus- 
band. He was short, and had light hair, and 
had lost a part of his right ear in a duel ; it dis- 
figured him very much.’ 

“ ‘ Then, madame,’ answered the commandant, 
‘I can give you no further information, for 
that is the only Geoffroy in the army of whom 
I know anything, and from your description he 


88 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


cannot be your husband. I will make inquiries 
among my officers, but I can give you but little 
hope.’ 

“ Madame sighed and groaned some more, and 
then said she would be ready to depart at day- 
light in the morning, to begin her search over 
again. The commandant offered her a room in 
the citadel, warning her that it would be neces- 
sary for her to get out before daybreak, as the 
English began their cannonade as soon as it was 
light enough to see the French lines. Madame 
agreed tearfully to this, and the commandant 
offered her some supper, smiling when he told 
her it was not exactly the kind of fare he was 
used to offering ladies. But she declined — we 
had not the heart to eat up anything from those 
poor devils. So she was shown to a room, and I 
lay down at the door and pretended to sleep; but 
you may depend upon it, sir, that neither one of 
us slept a wink. Towards daylight the captain 
of the guard came to waken us, and told us it 
was time to leave. The commandant was up to 
bid madame adieu , as they call it in the French 
lingo; and after thanking him for his politeness 
madame was escorted to the gate, I following 
her, and thence as far as the picket-line. And 
iiere, after the officer had left us, for the first 
time we aroused suspicion. We were walking 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


89 


pretty fast, and something in the supposed lady’s 
gait made the sentry suspect us. There was an- 
other soldier, not a sentry, with him, and this 
fellow called after us to stop. We were near 
the entrance to the bog then, and we knew the 
way across it, particularly as there was now day- 
light enough to see, so the only notice we took 
of him was to walk a little faster. The soldier 
followed us clear into the underbrush, when my 
lord — for so 1 will call him now — deliberately 
dropped his hoop and petticoat, revealing a pair 
of legs that evidently belonged to the British 
army, and a rapier, while from the waist up he 
wore a woman’s sack, and had a hood on his 
head. The apparition dazed the soldier for a 
moment, when my lord made at him with the 
rapier, and he turned and ran, giving the alarm, 
however. We took to our heels and gained the 
causeway, when the French fired a regular fusil- 
lade after us, although not a shot struck ; and 
our own people, seeing us running towards them, 
thought we were escaped prisoners, and we got 
within our own lines without trouble. My lord 
had some valuable information to give the duke, 
and the adventure got out in the army and made 
a hero of him. The French kept monstrous quiet 
about it; you see, sir, we had taken the com- 
mandant himself in. My lord repaid his polite- 


90 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


ness, though, by sending him a box of wine, 
which we knew he needed for his sick ; but the 
commandant was the most chagrined man in the 
French army. They made a sortie soon after 
that, but it did them no good, and within a week 
they surrendered. The duke granted them all 
the honors of war, and the garrison marched out 
with drums beating and colors flying. They 
had made a gallant defence, and had not sur- 
rendered until they were starving. That was the 
end of my serving with the great Duke of Marl- 
borough, for that was his last campaign. And 
soon after my lord left the army. And I'll be 
leaving his service by the toe of his boot if I 
don’t go to him now ; so good-night, sir, and ex- 
cuse me if I have kept you out of bed too long.” 

With this Lance disappeared. 

In a few minutes George was in bed, and for 
the first time a sudden shock of homesickness 
came to him. His mother would not come to 
him that night and kiss his forehead, as she al- 
ways did. It almost drove away the story of 
the siege of Bouchain ; but in a little while he 
had lapsed into a sleep, in which dreams came of 
Bouchain, and the earl dressed up as Madame 
Geoffroy, and his mother sitting by the fire smil- 
ing, and Betty playing on the harpsichord, and 
then deep oblivion and the soundest of sleep. 


CHAPTER VI 


The two days’ journey that followed were very 
much like the first day — an early start, two hours’ 
rest in the middle of the day, and the night spent 
at a road -side tavern. On the third day they 
left civilization behind them, and their mid-day 
rest was spent in the woods. They were then 
upon a lower spur of the Blue Bidge Mountains. 
The road for the first two days had been fairly 
good, but on the third day the four roans had 
all they could do to haul the heavy coach up and 
down the rough highway. They stood to their 
work gallantly, though, and Lord Fairfax re- 
marked that the coach could go twenty miles 
farther up the mountain, where he had a hunt- 
ing - lodge — a sort of outpost for Green way 
Court, and where the coach was stored. Glori- 
ous weather had followed them. The air was 
keener and colder than in the low country, and 
Lance produced a huge furred mantle, in which 
he wrapped Lord Fairfax, who sat and read un- 
concernedly while the coach rolled and jerked 


02 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


and bumped along. George was glad to make 
half his day’s travel on horseback, and the exer- 
cise, as a warmer-up, was so much better than 
the earl’s fur mantle that he felt sometimes like 
suggesting a gallop to Lord Fairfax. But he 
had the wit to keep his suggestions to himself, 
knowing that older men can do their own think- 
ing much better than it can be done for them by 
fifteen-year-old boys. George had enjoyed ev- 
ery moment of the trip so far. His attacks of 
homesickness were few, and he got over them 
by the philosophical reflection that he would 
have been cruelly disappointed if his mother had 
not allowed him to come. He began a letter to 
his mother, writing a little everv day, so that if 

he had a chance to visit the low countrv it would 

*/ 

be all ready to send at a moment’s notice. lie 
was very happy. He had in prospect a new and 
delightful experience in travel and association. 
When that was over he had the cheerful hospi- 
tality and honest gayety of his Christmas at 
Mount Y ernon to look forward to with his broth- 
er and his sister-in-law, whom he dearly loved, 
and dear little Betty ; and after that a return 
home, where he fitted naturally and easily into 
the position of his mothers best helper and 
counsellor. 

The singular attraction between the man of 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


93 


the world and the unsophisticated young pro- 
vincial gentleman grew each day. George had 
never before met any one who had Lord Fair- 
fax's store of experience, as a soldier, a courtier, 
a man of affairs, and a member of a great litera- 
ry circle. Nothing was lost on the boy, and the 
earl was charmed and interested to find that a 
chance word dropped here and there would re- 
main in George’s memory, who would recall it 
at a suitable time to ask some intelligent ques- 
tion about it. Lord Fairfax sometimes smiled 
at himself when lie realized how much of his 
time and thought and conversation were spent 
upon this boy, but he also realized that an in- 
telligent and receptive young mind is in itself 
one of the most interesting things in the world, 
and when combined with the noble personality 
and high breeding of Madam Washington's son 
it was irresistible. For the first day or two he 
always spoke to George as “Mr. Washington,” 
and neither one could tell the exact occasion 
when he dropped it for the more familiar 
“ George.” But it was done, and it put them 
upon a footing of affection at once. George 
continued to say “my lord,” as that was the 
proper mode of address, but little by little he 
revealed his heart to his new friend, and Lord 
Fairfax read him as an open book. This was 


04 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


not at first, however, for George modestly con- 
ceived himself to be a person of no consequence 
whatever, and was much more eager to hear the 
earl speak of his adventures than to tell all the 
ideas and protests and ambitions he cherished 
himself. 

On the evening of the fourth day they came 
to a log structure at the foot of the mountains, 
where the coach was to be left. It was in a 
cleared space on an open plateau, and above 
them towered the great peaks of the Blue Ridge, 
which they must cross on horseback. 

The night was bright and beautiful, a great 
vivid moon sailing majestically in the heavens. 
There was in the clearing one large cabin, with 
two beds in it and a large press, besides a table 
and some chairs. In a smaller cabin two or 
three men lived the year round, while built on 
to that was a substantial coach-house, where the 
great chariot was stored, except when the earl 
went upon his lowland journeys in state. When 
the cavalcade stopped in the clearing Lord 
Fairfax alighted and walked into the large 
cabin, followed by George. A fire roared upon 
the broad, rude hearth, and in ten minutes 
Lance had unlocked the press, had taken from 
it some bedlinen and blankets, and had made 
up the beds and laid the table. Supper had 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


95 


been prepared in advance, and, as Lance was 
an excellent cook, it was not to be despised — in 
particular a great saddle of venison, which had 
been hanging up for a week in anticipation of 
the earl’s arrival. George could hardly have 
told what part of the day’s journey he always 
enjoyed most, but these suppers, with the earl’s 
entertaining conversation, and his own healthy 
young appetite, and the delicious sense of well- 
being when he drew up to the fire afterwards, to 
listen and ask questions, were perfectly delight- 
ful to him. 

When they were seated at the table and 
about half through supper, Lord Fairfax asked, 
smiling : 

“ How do you like the uncivilized wilderness, 
George ?” 

“ But this is not the uncivilized wilderness 
yet,” answered George, smiling too. “ We have 
a table and chairs, and knives and forks and 
plates, and beds and blankets, and silver candle- 
sticks.” 

“ Still, it is the wilderness, and from now on 
we must depend upon ourselves for company. 
The true meaning of the wilderness is, absence 
from the haunts of men. We shall be entirely 
alone at Green way, except for a few negroes 
and Indians. You will probably not see a white 


96 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


face, except mine and Lance’s, until you leave 
me.” 

“ It will be quite enough, sir,” replied George. 
“ I would rather be with a few people that I 
like than with a great crowd that I don’t 
like.” 

“ I felt the same in my youth. Afterwards 
there were circumstances in my life which in- 
dined me to solitude. I came to Virginia in 
search of it, and I found it; and I also found 
peace. Once a year I go to the low country — to 
Eel voir, my cousin William Fairfax’s ; to your 
brother's at Mount Vernon ; sometimes to see 
Colonel Byrd at Westover; but I always return 
to my own fastness gladly. I feel more cheerful 
now than at any time since we started. old 

friends — my books — are waiting for me in my 
library ; I can only take a dozen with me when 
I go away. My doves and pigeons, my dogs and 
horses, will all be the happier for my return 
home. My servants will be glad to have me 
back — poor souls, they have but a dull time of it 
all the year round ; and I myself, having lived 
this life so long, find that it suits me. L shall 
have your company for several weeks ; then I 
shall want you again next year.” 

“ Next year, sir, I shall be sixteen, and per- 
haps I shall not be my own master. I may be in 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


97 


his majesty’s service. But if I can come to you 
again, you may be sure I will.” 

When supper was over the earl drew his chair 
up to the fire, and, still wrapped in his fur mantle 
— for the bitter wind blew through the cracks 
and crannies of the cabin — sat in a reverie with 
his deep eyes fixed on the blaze. George had 
meant that night to ask him something about the 
siege of Bouchain, but he saw that the earl was 
deep in thought, and so said nothing. He began 
to wonder what his mother and Betty were doing 
at that time. It was after supper at Ferry Farm, 
too. Flis mother was knitting by the table in 
the parlor, with two candles burning, and Betty 
was practising at the harpsichord. In his moth- 
er’s bedroom — “the chamber,” as it was called 
in Virginia — a fire was burning, and around the 
hearth were gathered the household servants 
picking the seed from the cotton which, when 
warmed by the fire, came out easily. This they 
did while waiting until they were dismissed at 
nine o’clock. What was Billy doing? and Bat- 
tler? While thinking these thoughts George 
dropped asleep, and slept soundly until Lance 
waked him raking down the ashes and preparing 
for the night. 

Next morning George wakened early, as he 
supposed, seeing how dark it was ; but the 

7 


98 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


sound of the rain upon the roof proved that it 
was not so early, after all. He glanced through 
one of the two small windows of the cabin 
and saw the water coming down in torrents. 
A regular mountain storm was upon them. 
George sighed as he realized this. It meant 
weather-bound for several days, as the roads 
across the mountains would be likely to be im- 
passable after such a storm. And so it proved. 
For four days there was only an occasional let up 
in the downpour. Luckily, no snow fell. And 
Lord Fairfax observed his young guest narrowly 
in these days of being cooped up in a cabin, and 
found him less impatient than might have been 
expected. George, seeing the elaborate prepa- 
rations that Lance always made for the earl’s 
comfort, imagined that he would ill support the 
inconveniences of their enforced delay ; but it 
proved exactly the contrary. Lord Fairfax was 
not only patient but gay under such annoyances 
as a leak in the roof and their rations bein£ re- 
duced to corn -bread and smoked venison. 

“ It reminds me of our old days in the Low 
Countries,” he said to Lance the fourth night 
they spent at the cabin. 

“Yes, my lord; but, saving your honor’s pres- 
ence, we would have thought this a palace in 
those days. I don’t think I ever was dry all 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


99 


over, and warm all over, and bad as much as I 
could eat from the time I went to the Low Coun- 
tries until after we had taken Bouchain, sir.” 

“ Lance has told me about that adventure, 
sir,” said George, slyly, hoping to hear some- 
thing more from Lord Fairfax about it. 

“ Pshaw !” cried the earl, smiling, “ Lance is in 
his dotage, and can talk of nothing but what hap- 
pened thirty or forty years ago. Our expedition 
was a mere prank. I found out nothing, and 
risked not only my life but this poor fellow’s 
without warrant.” 

“ The duke, sir,” said Lance, very respectfully, 
“ was of another mind. And, sir, I have never 
thought of Madame Geoffroy, and her fits and 
her fainting and her furbelows, these thirty- five 
years without laughing.” 

At which George went off into such convul- 
sions of laughter that Lord Fairfax knew Lance 
had told him the whole story. 

After four days of stormy weather it became 
clear and cold. They were only twenty miles 
from Greenway Court, but the earl sent a man 
ahead to find out if the streams were fordable, 
and whether it were vet worth while to start. 
The man came back the next day about sunset, 
saying it would be possible for them to get to 
Greenway Court the next day. 




• > * 


l efC. 


> ’ 
» > • 


100 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


Although George had stood the confinement in 
the cabin stoically, he was delighted to be on the 
move again, and both he and the earl relished 
their last supper there the more for knowing it 
would be the last. All the arrangements were 
made for an early start on horseback next morn- 
ing, and at nine o’clock Lord Fairfax and George 
were about turning in when they heard a timid 
knock at the door. 

Lance, with a candle in his hand, opened the 
door, and at first saw nothing at all ; but as his 
eyes became accustomed to the darkness he saw a 
negro boy and a dog. 

Lance was so surprised that he did not at first 
speak, but the boy piped up very promptly : “Is 
Marse George Washington here, suh ?” 

George, on hearing his name called in that 
voice, jumped from his chair as if he had been 
shot, and the next moment was standing face to 
face with Billy, while Rattler sprang at him with 
wild barks of delight. Billy’s greeting was brief 
and to the point. 

“ Ileah I is, Marse George, wid Rattler.” 

“ Where on earth did you come from ?” asked 
George, breathlessly, dragging the boy into the 
cabin. As the light of the fire and the candles 
fell upon him he looked as if he might have 
come three hundred miles instead of less than a 


IS MAIiSE GEORGE WASHINGTON HERE, SUII ? 






A VIRGINIA CAVALIER * 


101 


hundred and fifty, he was so thin, so hollow- 
eyed, and gaunt. II is shoes were quite gone ex- 
cept the uppers, and he was in rags and tatters ; 
yet nothing could dim the joy shining in his 
heady black eyes, while his mouth came open as 
if it were on hinges. Lord Fairfax, turning in 
his chair, was struck by the look of rapturous de- 
light on poor Billy’s face. The boy, still grinning, 
answered : 

“ F’um Fredericksburg. I tooken de horse 
mos’ ter de ferry, and den I turn him loose, kase 
he had sense ’nough fer ter git ter de boat by 
hisse’f. So arter I seen him mos’ up ter de boat, 
me an’ Rattler, we all lights out arter de ker- 
riage fo’ Black Sam an’ Gumbo have time fer 
ter hunt fer me, an’ we foller de track clean 
f’um Fredericksburg ter dis heah place.” Billy 
told this as if it were the commonest thing in 
the world for a boy and a dog to follow a coach 
more than a hundred miles from home. George 
was so astonished he could only stare at Billy 
and gasp out : 

“ IIow did you manage to keep the track ?” 

“ Dunno, suh,” replied Billy, calmly. “ Rattler, 
he know de way better ’n me. When de rains 
come an’ I los’ de wheel tracks, I say ter dat ar’ 
dog, 6 Lookee heah, dog, we is follerin’ Marse 
George ’ — he know dat jes as well as a human ; 


102 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIEK 


an’ I say, ‘You got ter fin dat trail an’ dem 
tracks,’ an’ dat dog he know what I was talkin’ 
’bout, an’ he wag he tail, an’ den he lay he nose 
to de groun’, an’ heah we is.” 

The earl had laid down his book and was lis- 
tening intently to Billy's story. “ And what did 
you live on — what did you have to eat on the 
way — let me see — nearly eight days ?” 

“We didn’t have nuttin much,” Billy admit- 
ted. “ De mornin’ we lef’ home I tooken a big 
hoe-cake an’ put it in my sli’ut when warn’ no- 
body lookin’. De fus’ day I eat some, an’ gin 
some ter de dog. Arter dat I foun' chinquapins 
an’ ches’nuts an’ some tu’nips 'long de road-side, 
an’ I could eat dem, but de dog couldn', so I kep’ 
dat hoe-cake fur Rattler, an' give him de las’ 
piece yistiddy.” 

“ Bill} 7 ,” asked George, with tears in his eyes, 
“ were you very hungry ?” 

For the first time a distressed look came into 
the boy’s face. lie was at his journey’s end, he 
was with Marse George, he had nothing more 
on earth to wish for ; but the recollection of the 
hunger of those eight days — the cold, the weari- 
ness, the agonies of terror that sometimes at- 
tacked him overcame him. 

“ Yes, suh, I was hongry,” he said, with a sob, 
“ dat’s Gord’s truf ; an' ef it hadn' been fur dis 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


103 


heah dog you neber would ha’ seed Billy no mo’. 
But dat dog, he go ’long snuffin’, an’ he were 
hongry too, I speck, dough he had some hoe-cake 
’twell yistiddy ; an’ if de dog coul’ hoi’ out, dis 
nigger could.” 

OO 

“ I’ll never, never forget it, Billy, as long as I 
live,” said George, half crying. 

Then Lord Fairfax spoke. “But how did you 
escape from being stopped on the road for a run- 
away ?” 

“Dunno, suh,” responded Billy, using his fa- 
vorite formula. “ W e didn’ meet many white folks 
on de road, an’ when we see ’em cornin’ we hide in 
de bushes. I ain’ never spoke ter a human sence 
we lef’ Fredericksburg. In de daytime we hide 
somewh’yar by de road an’ sleep, an’ we trabbel 
mos’ all night. ’Twas de full o’ de moon, an’ I 
see dem tracks jes same as ’twas in daytime. 
Den, arter I los’ ’em, dis heah dog, he jes keep 
de road hisse’f — an’ here I is.” 

“Lance,” cried George, suddenly, “please get 

something to eat for him — anything — everything 

vou have !” 

«/ 

Billy’s eyes glistened as, in a moment, Lance 
whipped out of the press some cold meat and 
bread, and he attacked it ravenously. Mean- 
while, George fed the dog, wffiich was evidently 
the least starved of the two. When Billy had 


104 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


eaten up everything that could be produced for 
him, he quietly curled himself up near the fire, 
and in half a minute he was sleeping the sleep 
of the just. 

“What are you going to do with him?” asked 
Lord Fairfax of George. 

“ Keep him with me if you will allow me, 
sir.” 

“ But what will your mother say ? He seems 
to be a strong bo} T — his journey proves that — 
and he no doubt has his work at Ferry Farm.” 

George smiled at the recollection of Billy’s 
“ work.” 

“ I don’t think, my lord, that Billy is of the 
slightest use at Ferry Farm unless I am there. 
My mother, who believes in everybody’s being 
industrious, has done her best to make him work. 
So have his father and mother, Uncle Jasper 
and Aunt Sukey. But except for waiting on 
me, and taking care of my horse, Billy will abso- 
lutely do nothing. He is not surly about it — he 
is always grinning and laughing and singing — 
but — I can’t explain it exactly — he will work his 
fingers to the bone for me, but he won’t work 
for am T body else.” 

“ I should not think Billy a very useful mem- 
ber of society,” remarked Lord Fairfax. 

George said not a word, but he did not like 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER . 


105 


aspersions of any kind on Billy. Seeing this, 
Lord Fairfax said, in his usual kind tone : 

“ If it gives you pleasure, you must, of course, 
keep him with you — and indeed there is nothing 
else to be done that I can see ; and as you say he 
is no good to your mother when you are not at 
home, perhaps he is better off here. He seems a 
faithful little soul, and I am not surprised that 
you are touched at his devotion.” 

George’s face assumed an entirely different ex- 
pression, but he merely said, “ Thank you, sir,” 
and in a few minutes after, throwing a bear-robe 
over Billy, George went to bed himself, with Rat- 
tler curled up by him. 

Next morning they took the road soon after 
sunrise. Billy, who had enough of walking for 
some time to come, was mounted on one of the 
pack-horses. Two saddle-horses had been brought 
down from Green way for the earl and his young 
guest, and together they led the procession along 
the rough mountain road. The scenery was 
wildly beautiful. Occasionally they wound along 
mighty precipices, where the horses could scarce- 
ly pick their way. Again they forded mountain 
streams that could only be breasted by the most 
tremendous exertions. They made their way 
through a great cleft in the mountains about mid- 
day, and began to descend towards the valleys. 


106 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


The distance was but twenty miles, yet so diffi- 
cult was the road that it was late in the short 
autumn afternoon before Lord Fairfax, point- 
ing to a collection of roofs that lay directly be- 
low them in a sheltered part of the valley, said 
to George, “ There is Greenway Court / 1 

By sunset they were riding up the rough road 
that led to the house. 

It was a large, low building, with stables and 
offices projecting on each side. The foundation 
was of stone, rudely but strongly cemented. 
Half-way up the story and a half which consti- 
tuted the building the stone ceased, and logs, 
neatly and even artistically mortised together, 
were carried to the roof. The effect was not 
unpleasing, especially as many of the original 
forest trees had been left, and the building 
blended well with its surroundings. Broad and 
shallow stone steps led up to the main entrance, 
and two great oak doors studded with nails 
gave entrance to it. George noticed that all of 
the windows were provided with stout iron-bound 
shutters, with holes for musketry in them. The 
door was also pierced for defence, and a very 
slight examination showed that, if well garri- 
soned, the building could be converted into a 
tolerably strong block -house. The earl, as if 
reading the thoughts in George's mind, remarked : 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


107 


“We have to be provided here for attacks 
from the Indians, incited by the French. The 
French have determined to extend their en- 
croachments eastward and southward by a chain 
of forts, and I make no doubt that they con- 
template a line that will extend from Canada to 
Louisiana. They use the Indians as secret though 
powerful allies, and by encouraging them to 
harry and murder the whites in this wild part 
of the colony of Virginia, they think that it will 
be abandoned, and that they can advance their 
outposts this far. Greenway Court has with- 
stood one siege, and can withstand another. 
There is a spring directly under the house, and, 
having some knowledge of mechanics, I have con- 
cealed the source, which is at a distance from the 
house, and we get the spring-water by merely go- 
ing down into the cellar. Then I keep constantly 
on hand, in this same cellar, stores of provisions 
and ammunition, so we are well able to defend 
ourselves, even against burning — for the Indians 
have found out the use of the torch against 
white men’s dwellings. However, I hope we shall 
have no bouts with them while you are with us.” 

George said nothing, but he would have been 
more or less than a boy if he had not longed in 
his heart for a bout with the savages, of which 
he had heard much but seen little. 


CHAPTER VII 


Inside, Green way Court was not devoid of 
comfort, and even of luxury. The main hall 
was open to the roof, and, like all the rooms in 
the house, the rafters were left bare, and the 
walls rough cast in a sort of brown plaster not 
unpleasing to the e} T e. In every room there was 
a huge fireplace with great iron fire-dogs. In 
some of the guest-chambers were the vast cur- 
tained beds of the period, but in Lord Fairfax’s 
own room was a small iron bedstead that he had 
used in his campaigns when a young man. His 

librarv communicated with his bedroom, and was 

«/ * 

by far the most luxurious room in the whole 
quaint building. It was lined with books from 
the floor to the low ceiling — George had never 
seen so many books in all his life before. There 
were also a few portraits and one or two busts. 
Over the mantel two swords were crossed — one 
a cavalry sword, and the other a delicate rapier 
such as officers in the foot regiments used at 
that day. George's eyes fell upon them as soon 
as he and the earl entered the room. 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


109 


“ The sword was the one I had the honor to 
use in ray campaigns under Marlborough, and 
the rapier” — here Lord Fairfax smiled a little — 
“ I had concealed about me when I entered Bou- 
chain in disguise.” 

After supper was over Lance showed George 
into a room with one of the gigantic four-posters 
in it. The floor was covered with bear - skins, 
and Billy was instructed to roll himself up in 
them for a bed, which he did with much satis- 
faction, with Battler on top of him, as soon as 
George was in bed, which was not long in being 
accomplished. 

Next morning George was up and around 
early, looking about the place. He had never 
seen the mountains before, and was deeply im- 
pressed by their grandeur, but in his heart he 
preferred blue water. 

The scenery was even more striking in the 
blaze of the morning light than he had sup- 
posed. On every side, beyond the valley, giant 
peaks rose into the blue air, covered with vege- 
tation to the very top. He understood then the 
profusion of bear skins in the house, and thought 
what fine sport might be had in tracking big 
game through the deep gorges and dark forests 
of the region. Lance came up to him as he 
stood on the broad stone steps drinking in the 


110 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


wild beauty of the scene, and inhaling the keen, 
sharp air, so unlike the softness of the lowland 
atmosphere. 

“ There is great sport hereabouts, Lance,” 
cried George. 

“ Yes, sir ; bears and Injuns, mostly — and rat- 
tlesnakes in season. Did you ever eat bear meat, 
Mr. Washington ?” 

“ ISTo,” answered George ; “ but I have been 
told it is fine.” 

“ I’ve got some, sir, for supper to-night. The 
bears have been feeding on persimmons and 
chinquapins and walnuts, and that always makes 
the meat of a good flavor.” 

“ And how about the Indians ?” asked George, 
smiling. 

“ Injuns and rattlesnakes have their seasons 
together,” answered Lance, with a grim smile in 
reply. “ They and their French friends gener- 
ally keep pretty close this time of year. I don’t 
know which I would rather receive — the French 
and Injuns coming as friends or enemies. Some- 
times half a dozen of ’em turn up, usually in 
the summer — the French always pretending to 
be traders or something of that sort — and they 
bring two or three Injun bucks with them, to 
carry their luggage, they say ; but whoever saw 
an Injun carrying anything but a firelock — if 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


111 


he can get one? They always profess to belong 
to a peaceable tribe ; but that’s all in my eye, sir. 
They hang about for a day or two, asking for 
fresh meat or vegetables, and making out that 
they don’t know how to get across the moun- 
tains, and all the time the French are drawing 
maps in their note-books and the Injuns making 
maps in their heads; for, Mr. Washington, your 
Injun is full of horse-sense about some things. 
He can’t look ahead, or plan, or wait — all the 
Injuns in North America couldn’t have taken 
Bouchain — but for killing people, quick and sure, 
I don’t know of any soldiers quite so good as 
Injuns. The French, sir, have a regular plan 
in all their expeditions here. The last party 
that turned up got me to talking about the 
way we had repulsed the redskins — for we have 
stood a siege or two, sir. For answer I took the 
Frenchmen inside the house. I showed them 
that w T e had water, the source of which was 
hidden ; I showed them a regular magazine, all 
bricked up in the cellar, and an arsenal next my 
lord’s room, and another cellar -room full of 
dried provisions ; and then I showed them two 
swivels with a plenty of suitable shot, and I 
said to them, very plain spoken : 

“ ‘ If you come to Greenway Court, you’ll have 
to bring artillery with you ; you can’t starve us 


112 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


out, and to take it will cost you more than it 
comes to, for while it is very good in defence, it 
is nothing for attack . 1 

“ So I think the Frenchies know better than 
to trouble us. But I am not so sure of the In- 
juns. They have not good heads on their shoul- 
ders about campaigns, and they don’t see that it 
is not worth their while to trouble us ; and J 
would not be surprised any night to find a lot 
of skulking savages around here, trying to burn 
us out, as they have tried before.” 

George was deeply interested in this account, 
but at that moment breakfast was announced, 
and he went in-doors. 

The large, low hall was used as a dining-room, 
the table being drawn close to the fire. Lord 
Fairfax was already there, and breakfast was 
soon despatched. 

“ I hope, George,” said the earl, as they rose 
from the table, “ that you have the excellent 
habit of learning something every day. As a 
beginning, you may have Lance’s services every 
morning for two hours to teach you fencing — 
not only with the rapier, but the sword exercise 
on horseback and afoot. It is not only well for 
you, as } T ou intend entering a military life, to 
know this, but it is the finest exercise possible 
for the muscles and the eye, and also in the art 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


113 


of keeping one’s temper. I shall expect you to 
become proficient in this noble art.” 

“ I’ll try, sir,” was George’s modest answer. 

Lord Fairfax then led the way to the room 
which Lance had called the arsenal. Here were 
all manner of arms : quaint old arquebuses and 
matchlocks, every sort of pistol then in use, 
fowling-pieces, and on a rack in a corner two 
dozen serviceable modern muskets, shining and 
polished, and evidently ready for use ; then 
there were rapiers and small swords and broad- 
swords and claymores and strange curved Turk- 
ish scimitars. George’s eyes glittered with de- 
light as he examined all these curious and 
interesting things. Presently Lance entered, 
and Lord Fairfax left the room. George soon 
found that this room and its contents were the 
old soldier’s pride. He had some interesting 
story to tell about every w T eapon in the collec- 
tion, but George cut him short with a request to 
begin his fencing-lesson. Lance took down the 
foils and masks, and, while examining them, said : 

“Mr. Washington, what do you think is the 
first and greatest thing a man must have to 
learn to be a good fencer ?” 

“ Courage,” replied George. 

“ Courage is necessary ; but no man ever 
learned fencing by being courageous.” 

8 


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A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


“ Swiftness, dexterity, keeping your eyes wide 
open — ” 

“ All of them are necessary too, sir ; but the 
great thing is good temper. If you lose your 
temper and fly into a passion, your adversary 
has you at his mercy. I never saw a man with 
an ungovernable temper that I couldn’t knock 
the blade out of his hand in five minutes.” 

George’s face fell at this. 

“ I am afraid, Lance,” he said, “ that I have a 
very quick temper, and a very high temper.” 

“ Do you let it run away with you, sir?” asked 
Lance, passing his foil through his fingers. 

“ Sometimes,” answered George, dejectedly ; 
“ though I have never fallen into a passion be- 
fore my mother, or any woman, since I was a 
little boy, because it is certainly not gentleman- 
like to be violent where ladies are — ’tis a gross 
insult to them, of which I would not be guilty.” 

“Well, sir,” continued Lance, still critically 
examining his foil, “ if you can do so much out 
of respect for ladies, I should think you could 
do a little more out of respect for yourself, and 
keep your temper always.” 

The red blood poured into George’s face at 
this, and liis angry eyes seemed to emit blue 
sparks. Lance, who was really nothing but a 
servant, daring to speak to him like that ! He 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


115 


straightened himself up and, in a manner that 
showed he had not belied himself, fixed on the 
old soldier a look of concentrated rage. Lance 
returned the look steadily. Though nominally 
a servant, he was a tried and trained soldier, 
and not to be awed by the wrath of this splen- 
did stripling. As Lance continued to gaze at 
him the expression in George's face slowly 
changed ; the color died away, leaving him 
paler than usual, and his eyes softened. He said 
nothing, but after a pause, which meant a strug- 
gle and a victory over himself, he held out his 
hand for the foil. Lance, with a respectful bow, 
handed it to him and began the lesson. 

The old soldier found his pupil just what 
might have been expected — powerful, alert, with 
a wonderful quickness of the eye, and of great 
natural grace and agility, but impetuous and 
passionate, and quite unable to stand on the de- 
fensive. His temper rose, too, at the first lunge 
he made, and although he controlled it perfectly 
as regarded his words, never showing the slight- 
est chagrin in his language, yet Lance could see 
that his pupil was angry from the beginning. 
It placed him at an immediate disadvantage. 
His foil flew out of his hand when he determined 
to grip it the hardest, and for the first time in 
his life he attempted a manly exercise and failed 


116 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


in it. This did not sweeten his temper, and when 
the lesson — a long one — closed, he was mortified 
and vexed to the last degree. Nevertheless, he 
thanked Lance, and, seizing his jacket and hat, 
rushed out of doors, feeling that he must be 
alone with his wrath and chagrin. Lance put 
up the foils and masks with a queer look in his 
eyes. 

“ He will learn something besides the use of 
the sword in fencing,” he said to himself. 

Outside George pursued his way along a path 
up the mountain-side, his rage cooling, and grow- 
ing more and more ashamed of himself. He 
thought highly of Lance, and was troubled at 
showing before him so much anger over a trifle; 
for trifle it was he realized. An hour’s brisk 
walking brought his pulses down, and he present- 
ly retraced his steps down the mountain. He 
was not in the mood to observe much, though 
he walked back rather slowly. He reached the 
house at one o'clock, just as Lord Fairfax came 
out of his study to dinner. The table was laid 
as usual in the hall. Behind the earl’s place 
stood Lance, while Billy’s head just peered above 
George's chair. 

“And how did you get on with your fencing- 
lesson?” was Lord Fairfax’s first question. 

“ Very poorly, sir, I am afraid,” answered 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


117 


George, blushing a little. “ I lost my temper, 
and felt as if I were fighting instead of exer- 
cising, and so I did not succeed very well.” 

Lord Fairfax laughed one of his peculiar, silent 
laughs. 

“You are not the first young man who has 
done that. When I was a youth I was a very 
ungovernable one, and I remember chasing a 
fencing - master, who was giving me a lesson, 
through the streets of London until I came to 
myself, and was glad to call a hackney-coach 
and hide. A skilful adversary will very often 
test your temper in the beginning, and make 
some exasperating remark, which, in effect, ren- 
ders your sword-arm powerless; for an angry 
man may be a fierce swordsman, but he can 
never be a skilful one.” 

George’s eyes opened very wide indeed. He 
glanced at Lance, but the old soldier wore a per- 
fectly impenetrable front. So that was why 
Lance made so free in his remarks ! George re- 
flected some moments, and came to the private 
conclusion that one could learn a great deal 
more in fencing than the art of attack and 
defence. 

In the afternoon saddle-horses were brought, 
and Lord Fairfax and George started for a long 
ride over the mountains. Although the earl was 


118 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


not, and never had been, so familiar with the 
woods and fields, and the beasts and birds, and 
every living thing which inhabited them, as his 
young companion, he displayed stores of infor- 
mation which astonished and delighted the boy. 
He explained to him that the French and the 
English were engaged in a fierce contest for a 
great empire, of which the country around them 
was the battle-field ; that the lines of demarca- 
tion, north and south, were very well defined ; 
but that neither nation would commit itself to 
any boundaries on the east and west, and conse- 
quently the best part of the continent was in dis- 
pute. Fie gave George the geography of the 
country as it was then understood, and showed 
him what vast interests were involved in the 
planting of a single outpost of the French. For 
himself, the king had granted him all the land 
between the Potomac and the Ilappahannock, 
and as far west as his majesty’s dominions went, 
which, as Lord Fairfax said, with a smile, were 
claimed to extend to the Pacific Ocean. Only a 
small part of these lands had been surveyed. He 
felt anxious to have the tract across the Alle- 
ghany Mountains surveyed, as it was of impor- 
tance to guard against the advance of the French 
in that direction. He asked George if he had ever 
studied surveying, and on George’s saying that he 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


119 


had given considerable time to it, and was fond 
of it, the earl told him that there were fine op- 
portunities for a surveyor in this new country, 
and it would be a good profession for George, 
provided he did not succeed in his ambition to 
join the army or the navy. 

“ I will join either one, if I can, sir, in pref- 
erence to any other profession,’’ was George’s 
reply. 

They reached home at dark, and found the 
cheerful welcome of a roaring fire in the great 
hall awaiting them. At supper Lance, with a 
great flourish, handed a dish to Lord Fairfax 
which George thought the most uninviting he 
had ever seen — huge lumps of something burned 
black ; but the aroma was delicious. Seeing Lord 
Fairfax take one of the black lumps, George cou- 
rageously followed his example, and, attacking it, 
found it perfectly delicious. 

“ Bears’ paws generally taste better than they 
look,” remarked Lord Fairfax; and George re- 
membered that Lance had told him there would 
be bear meat for supper. 

The evening was spent in the library, the earl 
reading and writing. He pointed out a smaller 
table than his own, in a corner, saying, “That 
is for you to read and write at, and to keep your 
books and papers on.” George found writing- 


120 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


materials on it, and, seating himself, wrote a long 
letter to little Betty, and then wrote in his jour- 
nal for his mother, describing Billy's expedition, 
and that the boy was safe with him. He then 
took a volume of the Spectator , and soon became 
absorbed in it. Presently Lord Fairfax, who was 
watching him with pleased eyes, asked : 

“ M r hat paper interests you so much, George?” 

“ I will read it to you, sir, if you care to hear 
it,” George replied. 

Lord Fairfax liked to be read to, and listened 
very gravely to the reading. George laid down 
the book when the paper was finished, saying, 
“ There is no name at the end of it, sir. Most 
of them have Mr. Addison's or Captain Steele’s 
or Mr. Arbuthnot’s or Mr. Pickell’s or some oth- 
er name at the bottom, but this has none.” 

“ I wrote that paper,” remarked the earl. “ I 
had the honor of contributing several papers to 
the Spectator ; but while appreciating the honor, 
I did not seek the notoriety of an author, and 
so, except to a few persons, my writings are un- 
known.” 

George nearly dropped the book in his sur- 
prise, but he regarded Lord Fairfax’s attain- 
ments with greater respect than ever. 

The next day and the next and the next were 
passed in much the same way, only that George 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


121 


no more lost his temper in fencing or in any 
other way. The instant he became cool and 
self - controlled he learned the science of the 
sword with great rapidity. Every morning for 
two hours he and Lance practised — sometimes 
in the arsenal, sometimes out-of-doors, when they 
would go through the sword - exercise on horse- 
back. 

Every day George grew fonder of the old sol- 
dier. He was a man of great natural intelli- 
gence, and could talk most sensibly upon every 
subject connected with the profession of arms. 
One thing he said remained fixed in George’s 
mind, and was recalled many years afterwards 
at a very critical time. They were one morning 
at the stables, which were directly at the back 
of the house, and were resting after a bout on 
horseback with swords. 

“ Whenever there is a regular war against 
the Injuns, Mr. Washington, the British troops 
will have to learn a new sort of fighting. Be- 
fore this they have never had to fight an enemy 
they could not see ; but when it comes to fight- 
ing Injuns in a country like this, where there is 
a man with a gun behind every tree and rock, 
and where a thousand men can march so that 
when you look at the path you would think 
less than a hundred had passed over it, and when 


122 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


you are fighting an enemy that has no ammu- 
nition-wagons or baggage-wagons or anything 
that travels on wheels — I sa} r , Mr. Washington, 
there will be a good many British soldiers that 
will bite the dust before they find out how to 
fight these red warriors — for warriors they are, 
sir. And though it is not for me, that never 
was anything but a private soldier, to talk about 
officers, yet I know that the English officers 
have got more to learn . about fighting in this 
country than the men have.” 

The hour came when all this returned to 
George with terrible force. 

Within a few da} r s after his arrival he had an 
opportunity to send his letter to Betty and his 
journal to his mother. He was very anxious to 
know how his mother would act on hearing of 
Billy’s having taken French leave. But it must 
be admitted that Billy was of small value to 
anybody except George ; and although Madam 
Washington when she wrote denounced Billy’s 
disobedience, laziness, and general naughtiness 
in strong terms, she promised amnestjr when he 
returned. George read this part of the letter 
to Billy, whose only comment was very philo- 
sophic. 

“ Missis ain’ gwi’ trouble me, but I ’spect mam- 
my and daddy will gimme a whuppin’.” 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


123 


The prospect of the “whuppin’,” however, 
did not materially affect Billy’s happiness, who, 
having much to eat and little to do, and the 
presence of Battler and his beloved “ Marse 
George,” had all that was essential to his hap- 
piness. 

The life was so altogether new to George, and 
the companionship of Lord Fairfax so unlike 
any he had ever known before, that the boy’s 
mind grew and developed more in the weeks he 
spent at Green way than in all his previous life. 
For the first time he was treated as a man by a 
man, and all at once it made a man of him. He 
began to think and act like a man instead of a 
boy. 

Lord Fairfax did not join him in his sports 
and hunting expeditions, but he delighted to 
hear of them when George would return after 
a hard day’s tramp over the mountains in search 
of game. Proud was he the day he returned 
after having shot his first bear — a splendid black 
specimen, measuring over five feet from snout 
to tail. Old Lance, who had become a skilful 
trapper, took the skin off, and cured it so clev- 
erly that not an inch of it was lost. This trophy 
George intended for his mother. 

Every evening he spent in the library with 
Lord Fairfax, reading. Sometimes it was a book 


124 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


of his own choice, and sometimes he read aloud 
to the earl, whose eyes were beginning to fail. 
Many of the books thus read were classical au- 
thors and scientific treatises, neither of which 
George had any natural fancy for. But he had 
the capacity to learn something from everything, 
and the most valuable lesson he got from his va- 
ried reading was the vast number of things of 
which he was ignorant compared with the small 
number of things he knew. This made him per- 
fectly modest at all times. 

As for Lord Fairfax, he felt himself daily 
growing more passionately fond, in his quiet and 
restrained way, of the boy. He began to look 
forward with apprehension to the time when he 
must again be alone — a feeling he had never had 
before. He would gladly have kept George with 
him always, and provided for his future ; but 
he knew well enough that Madam Washington 
would never give up this noble son of hers to 
anybody in the world. And so the two lived 
together, drawing closer and closer to each other, 
each of a silent, strong nature — the man of the 
world wearied of courts and camps, and the boy 
in his white-souled youth knowing nothing but 
the joy of living and the desire of living rightljq 
and both were happy in their daily and hourly 
companionship. 


CHAPTER Till 


Indians were not an entirely new sight to 
George, but the few who occasionally came to 
Greenway were quite different from the thrift- 
less, lazy, peaceable individuals and remnants of 
tribes that remained in remote parts of lower 
Virginia. There was an Indian village of forty 
or fifty in a piece of wild country about ten 
miles from Ferry Farm, but they were not dan- 
gerous, except to hen-roosts and pigsties ; and al- 
though the men talked grandiloquently of the 
time when their forefathers owned the land and 
lived by hunting, they seemed perfectly satisfied 
themselves to sit and bask in the sun, smoking 
tobacco of the squaws’ raising, and living upon 
grain raised by the same hard-working squaws. 

But the first Indian that he saw at Green way 
was altogether unlike these, and in George’s eyes 
vastly more respectable. He came one morning, 
just as George and Lord Fairfax had walked out 
on the porch after breakfast. He strode up the 
path carrying on his shoulder the dressed carcass 
of a deer. He was of medium height, but so 


126 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


superbly made and muscular that the heavy car- 
cass seemed as light as a feather. He stalked up 
to the porch, and, throwing the carcass down, 
folded his arms with an air of supreme indiffer- 
ence, and waited to be addressed. 

“For sale?” asked the earl. 

The Indian nodded his head without speaking. 
Lord Fairfax called to Lance to bring his purse. 
Lance in a few minutes appeared, and the in- 
stant his eyes fell upon the Indian his counte- 
nance changed. Not so the Indian's, who stood 
looking him squarely in the eye with character- 
istic stolidity. 

The earl counted out some money and offered 
it to the Indian, who took it with a grunt of 
satisfaction. 

“ Now,” said the earl, “ take the carcass to the 
kitchen, where you will find something to eat 
if you wish.” 

The Indian showed his familiarity with Eng*- 
lish by picking up the carcass and disappearing 
around the corner with it. As soon as he was 
out of hearing Lance said to the earl : 

“If you please, sir, that Injun, who pretends to 
be a squaw man, is no less than Black Bear, one 
of the most bloodthirsty devils I ever knew, lie 
was in the thick of the last attack they made 
on us, and I'll warrant, sir, if I could turn his 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


127 


blanket back from his right shoulder I would 
find a hole made by a musket-ball I sent at him. 
It disabled him, but I can see the rascal now 
walking away just as coolly as if I had tickled 
him with a feather instead of hitting him with a 
lead bullet. He never in the world brought that 
carcass over the mountains ; that is not in his line. 
There are more of Black Bear’s sort hereabouts, 
you may depend on it, sir.” 

Lord Fairfax shrugged his shoulders. 

“We are prepared for defence if they come at 
us, but I shall have to depend upon you, Lance, 
to give us warning.” And the earl went quietly 
back to his library. 

Hot so George. He had an intense desire to 
know more of Black Bear, and went with Lance 
around to the back of the house. 

“ You won’t find that Injun eating, sir; he 
don’t want anything to eat. He wants to sneak 
into the house and see what sort of a place it is,” 
said Lance. 

Sure enough, when they reached the kitchen 
there was nothing to be seen of Black Bear, al- 
though the deer’s carcass was hung up on a nail 
high above the ground, out of reach of the dogs. 
Caesar, the cook — a fat, jolly negro, with a great 
white apron on — was standing in the kitchen door 
looking around. 


128 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


“Where is the Injun who brought that deer 
meat here ?” asked Lance. 

“ I’se lookin’ fur him now,” responded Caesar. 
“ I didn’ heah no soun’, an’ when I tu’n roun’ 
d’yar was de carkiss bangin' 'n de nail. Dem 
Injuns is slicker ’n cats when dey move.” 

Lance, followed by George, passed into the 
kitchen and through a short covered way which 
led to the lower part of the house. The covered 
way and the kitchen too were of the same rough 
stone half-way up. A few steps at the end of 
the covered way led down into the cellars where 
the arms and provisions were stored. It was 
quite dark down there, and Lance struck his flint 
and made a light. They had not gone far in the 
underground passage when George instinctive- 
ly felt some one stealing by him. lie turned 
quickly, and in a moment Black Bear was pin- 
ioned to the wall. 

“What are you doing here?” asked Lance, 
gruffly. 

The Indian, remaining perfectly still, said, 
“ White man’s house like rabbit-burrow. Injun 
get lost in it." 

George, at a sign from Lance, let the Indian 
go, and he stalked solemnly out in front of them. 
Around outside, Lance said : 

“ What is your name ?” 




A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


129 


“ Squaw man,” was the Indian’s laconic an- 
swer, and as the squaw men had no distinc- 
tive names it was answer enough. But Lance 
grinned openly at this. 

“ You don’t look like a squaw man, but a war- 
rior, and your name, if I know it, is Black Bear. 
Now, if you are a squaw man, show me how that 
carcass ought to be cut up; and here is some 
money for you if you do it right.” Black Bear 
looked longingly at the money, but he was evi- 
dently not used to cutting up dressed meat, and 
he made no attempt at it. He grunted out some- 
thing, and then strode off in the direction of the 
path up the mountain. 

“ There you go,” apostrophized Lance, “and 
we shall see you before long with a firelock and 
a hatchet, and with a lot of other savages of your 
own kidney.” 

At dinner that day George told Lord Fairfax 
about finding the Indian prowling about the 
cellar, and Lance’s suspicions. 

The morning had been bright, but it grew so 
cold and snowy towards the afternoon that Lord 
Fairfax remained at home, and George took his 
ride alone. He had not gone but a few miles 
along the rugged mountain road when a furious 
snow-storm set in. and he quickly retraced his 
steps. It grew suddenly dark, but his horse was 

9 


130 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


sure of foot, and George himself knew the way- 
home perfectly. He galloped along through the 
darkness and the fast-falling snow, which dead- 
ened the sound of his horse’s hoofs. lie was sur- 
prised, though, to see a number of tracks in the 
snow as he passed along. He instantly recog- 
nized moccasin tracks, and remembered Lance’s 
prediction that the alleged squaw man had some 
companions with him. At one point on the 
road George was convinced that he heard a low 
whistle. He stopped his horse and turned in his 
saddle, but there was no sound except the crack- 
ling of the trees as the wind swept through their 
bare branches, and the faint sound of falling 
water in the distance. As he sat his horse, a 
perfect picture of young manhood, two stealthy 
eyes were fixed on him, and Black Bear, con- 
cealed behind a huge mountain-ash, noiselessly 
and rapidly raising a firelock, took direct aim at 
him. The horse, which had stood perfectly still, 
suddenly started as a shot rang out, and a bullet 
whizzed past George so close that he felt the 
current of air it made. 

George was too astounded to move for a mo- 
ment, but not more astounded than was Black 
Bear. Never in his life had the Indian made 
such a miss. Half a dozen pairs of beady black 
eyes had seen it, and the concealed Indians made 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


131 


a sign to each other in dumb -show signifying 
that the white youth had a charmed life. 

In another moment the horse, of its own will, 
as if flying from danger, started down the rocky 
road. George let him go on unchecked. lie 
did not think the bullet came from the piece of 
a sportsman, and he had not forgotten Lance’s 
warning. 

When he reached the house he looked about 
for Lance, whom he found in the armory, care- 
fully examining the muskets on the rack. Lance 
listened to George’s story of the shot very atten- 
tively. 

“ As sure as you live, Mr. Washington, there 
were some red devils skulking about, and when 
they get a firelock in their hands the first thing 
they want to do is to kill a white man. The 
Frenchmen sell them muskets, and give them 
firewater, and set them against us. I knew, the 
minute I put my eyes on that copper - colored 
rascal, that he had murder and arson in his 
heart ; but we’ll be able to keep them off, Mr. 
Washington.” 

“ Why is it that you think they want to capt- 
ure this house ?” asked George, thoughtfully. 

“ Because we have a plenty of arms and am- 
munition here. It is hard to get either over the 
mountains, and it would be a small fortune to 


132 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


any Indian to get a musket and a powder-horn. 
Then we have dried provisions in plenty — enough 
to last us six months if we get nothing from the 
outside — and dried provisions is what the Indians 
fancy. And my lord is opposed to the French, 
and no doubt they have set the Indians against 
us ; and then the Indians like the killing, just 
for the fun of the thing. I think I shall sleep 
with one eye open until I hear that Mr. Black 
Bear and his friends are no longer in this neigh- 
borhood.” 

That night, after supper, George and the earl 
talked over Lance’s suspicions. Lord Fairfax 
thought they were not ill founded, but he was 
not a man to excite himself over possibilities. 
The talk drifted towards marksmanship, and the 
earl, who was an excellent shot, brought out a 
pair of silver-mounted pistols, small for the time. 
He had some bullets made of composition, which 
flattened out against the rough cast wall without 
making an indentation. George drew a target 
on the wall, and the earl, standing at the end of 
the great, low-ceiled hall, made some wonderful 
shots. George then took the pistols, and fairly 
surpassed him. The earl taught him to snuff a 
candle at twenty paces, and other tricks of the 
kind. So absorbed were they in their pastime 
that it was nearly midnight before they parted. 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


133 


'When George went to his room Billy was not 
to be seen ; but when he was called a woolly 
head was poked out from under the valance of 
the high-post bed, and Billy chirped out : 

“ I’se gwi’ sleep under de baid ter - night, 
Marse George. Mr. Lance, he talk ’bout Injuns, 
an' ef dey come, I ain’ gwi’ gin ’em no chance 
fer to meek a hole in dis heah nigger’s skin. 
An’ I got de dog wid me, an’ ef he start ter 
bark, I kin choke him, so dey ain’ never know 
dee is a dog heah.” 

George laughed and went to bed, but it was 
not to sleep. He was excited, and lay awake for 
what seemed hours to him. At last, about three 
o'clock, he noticed by the moonlight that stole 
in his shutterless window that the snow - storm 
had ceased, and the moon was shining brilliant- 
ly. He got up and looked out. The ground 
was covered with snow, and the radiance of the 
great full moon made the whole landscape of a 
dazzling white ; the tall peaks, which reared their 
heads into the sky, shone like burnished silver, 
and seemed almost touching the vast dome of 
heaven. George gazed for a long time, entranced 
at the scene, until the moving of a faint shadow 
under the trees attracted his attention. His 
eyes were keen at all times, and particularly so 
that night. He waited until he became con- 


134 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


vincecl that there were Indian forms flitting 
about under the trees ; then, slipping on his 
clothes and carrying his shoes in his hand, he 
noiselessly opened the door and went into the 
hall. As he opened the door he met Lance face 
to face. 

“ Have you seen them ?” asked George, in a 
whisper. 

“No,” replied Lance; “ but I wakened up just 
now, and something, I know not what, told me 
to go over the house and see if everything was 
all right.” 

George drew him to the outer door, and 
pointed to one of the little eye -holes. Lance 
peered through anxiously. 

“I can’t see anything, Mr. Washington ; but 
your eyes are better than mine, and if j t ou say 
there are Injuns out there 1*11 take your word 
for it.” 

At that moment George, who was watching 
at another eye -hole, saw in a corner near the 
house a fire smouldering on the ground. A 
dozen blanketed figures were crouching around 
it. Presently they rose, and, carrying each a long 
and heavy fence -rail blazing at the end, made 
a rush around the back of the house, and, with a 
thundering crash and a succession of terrific 
whoops, pounded the stout oaken door of the 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


135 


kitchen with the burning rails. It was as if 
that barbaric yell in one instant wakened the 
house and converted it into a fortress. Lights 
shone at every window, the negroes appearing 
as if by magic, and Lord Fairfax in a dressing- 
gown, but with a musket in his hand, opening 
his door. Lance and George had made a rush 
for the armory, and each seized an armful of 
muskets. The negroes were each given a mus- 
ket, and stationed at an eye -hole. Meanwhile 
the pounding at the kitchen door continued, 
and shook the house from end to end. Stout 
as the oaken planking was, it seemed impossible 
that it could long withstand such assaults. 

“ It is the first time the red rascals have ever 
had sense enough to try and batter that door 
down. Before this they have tried the front 
door,” said Lance, as he and George took their 
station at the end of the short covered way that 
led to the kitchen. 

The earl by this time had put on his clothes 
and had joined Lance and George. 

“ I think the door is giving way, sir,” said 
George, quietly, to Lord Fairfax, as the sound 
of breaking timbers mingled with the screech of 
the savages. 

“I know it, sir,” added Lance, grimly. “We 
can keep the scoundrels out of the front door by 


136 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


stationing men in the half-story above; but there 
is no way of defending the kitchen door from 
the inside.” 

“ How many Indians do you think you saw, 
George?” asked Lord Fairfax, as coolly as if he 
were asking the number of cabbages in a gar- 
den. 

“ At least a dozen, sir.” 

“ Then if you saw a dozen there were cer- 
tainly fifty,” was the earl’s remark. The next 
moment a louder crash than before showed the 
door had given way, and in another instant 
the narrow passageway swarmed with Indians. 
George, mechanically following Lance's move- 
ments, raised his musket and fired straight at 
the incoming mob, the first hostile shot of his 
life. lie felt a strange quiver and tremor, and 
an acute sensitiveness to everything that was 
happening around him. He stood shoulder to 
shoulder with Lance, and Lord Fairfax quietly 
moved in front of him, which he thought strange. 

“Kneel down,” said Lance, in quite his ordi- 
nary voice, kneeling himself so that the armed 
negroes behind him could fire over his head. 
Lord Fairfax and George did likewise. The per- 
fect coolness and self-possession of Lance and 
Lord Fairfax amazed George. He had never seen 
old soldiers under fire before. For himself, he 



THE FIGHT IN THE KITCHEN PASSAGE 






A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


137 


felt wildly excited, and was conscious that his 
features were working convulsively, and his 
heart thumped so loudly against his ribs that he 
heard it over the crashing of the musket-balls. 
It flashed before his mind that any and every 
moment might be his last, and he thought of his 
mother and Betty ; he thought of everything, in 
fact, except one : that he might run away. He 
stood as if nailed to the ground, loading and fir- 
ing faster than he ever did in his life, and so 
accurately that both the earl and Lance had 
time to be astonished ; but it was merely the 
habit of doing things quickly and accurately 
which kept his hands and brain at work au- 
tomatically, while his nerves were being racked 
as those of all creatures are when brought face 
to face with the red death. He saw the Indians 
swarming into the narrow passageway, and rec- 
ognized Black Bear at their head. They had 
tomahawks as well as muskets, but they did not 
get near enough to use their hatchets. The 
steady fusillade checked their advance after the 
first onset, and they fell back a little, leaving 
one gaunt body upon the ground. 

All at once George’s senses seemed to return 
to him, and he felt as calm and unshaken as 
either the earl or Lance. He turned to the earl 
and said : 


138 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


“ The two swivels are in the cellar directly 
back of us, and on a level with us. If we had 
one we could command this passage.” 

“ Get it,” replied the earl, laconically. “ Take 
Caesar with you— it is on wheels, you know.” 

George darted into the cellar, and directly the 
rumbling of a small gun upon a rude carriage, 
with the wheels cut from solid logs of wood, 
was heard. Caesar was dragging the swivel out, 
while George followed with the powder and 
shot. There was now not a single Indian in the 
narrow passage except one lying stark before 
them. Without a moment's thought, George 
darted forward to drag the prostrate form out 
of the way of the gun, lest, if the Indian were 
dead, it might mutilate him, and if only wound- 
ed it might kill him. 

As George stooped forward to lift him the Ind- 
ian, who was bleeding profusely from a wound- 
ed leg, suddenly threw his left arm around 
George's neck, and with the other hand drew a 
tomahawk from under him. But George was 
too quick for him, and, catching his arm, lifted 
him bodily, and carried him back into the large 
passageway where they stood. 

It was Black Bear. 

“ You a squaw man,” was Lance’s comment. 

Black Bear said no word, but, raising him- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


139 


self from the ground, produced a leather thong, 
which he tied around his bleeding leg, rudely 
but not unskilfully checking the flow of blood, 
after which Lance tied him securely and put him 
in a corner. 

There was now a brief pause, and the guns 
were reloaded, and all were prepared for a sec- 
ond assault, while the swivel commanded the 
passageway thoroughly. 

“ They know what is going on here,” said the 
earl, “ and their next attack will be by the front 
entrance.” 

“ True, sir,” responded Lance. 

“ Shall we leave Mr. Washington here while 
we reconnoitre the front of the house?” asked 
Lord Fairfax of Lance, who was the actual com- 
mandant of the garrison. 

“ I think so, sir — with Caesar and one or two 
others. But keep your eye on Black Bear, Mr. 
Washington,” said Lance, “ as well as this pas- 
sage.” J ust then the noise of an assault on the 
other part of the house was heard, and the whole 
force went over on that side, leaving George, 
and Caesar the cook, and Jake the scullion, to 
watch the passageway. 

Occasionally they could see, by the dim light 
of a lantern hung to the wall, a figure passing to 
and fro in the kitchen, and the shattered timbers 


140 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


of the door, through which a white light was 
visible on the kitchen floor. As this part of the 
building was of stone, it could not be fired, so 
that the savages were powerless unless they 
could force their way in by the passage, and 
that they had tried unsuccessfully to do. 

George remembered to have heard that 
wounded men suffer fearfully from thirst. There 
was a cedar bucket full of water on a shelf in 
the larger passage, with a gourd hanging by it. 
lie told Jake to put the bucket by Black Bear, 
and although the Indian had sat perfectly still, 
not showing, even b} 7 a contraction of the brows, 
the agony he was suffering from his wound, he 
gulped the water down eagerly. 

The crack of musket-shots on the other side 
of the house could now be heard, and it was evi- 
dent that the fight was renewed, but at the same 
time dark faces appeared at the opening into the 
covered way. George, loading the swivel him- 
self, pointed it, and, by way of a salutary warn- 
ing, sent a four-pound shot screaming through 
the kitchen. Not an Indian showed himself 
after that. They had met resistance on the other 
side of the house too, and as the moon went slow- 
ly down the horizon in the pale gray of dawn 
the watchers from the eye-holes saw them draw 
off and take their way rapidly across the white 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


141 


ground into the mountains. The snow was blood- 
stained in many places, showing that the mus- 
ketry fire had been very effective; but the Ind- 
ians were so skilful in concealing their losses, 
and so stoical in regard to their wounds, that it 
was hard to tell exactly how they had fared, 
except that they had been driven off. 

Just as day was breaking Lord Fairfax came 
to George. 

“You have had your first taste of ball-car- 
tridges,” said he, smiling. “ What do you think 
of it F 

George hesitated and remained silent for a 
moment. 

“At first,” he said, “I hardly knew what I 
was doing. Afterwards, it seemed to me, I had 
never thought so quickly in my life.” 

“Witness the dragging out of the swivel,” 
continued Lord Fairfax; “and let me tell you 
this — the difference between an ordinary general 
and a great general is that the ordinary man 
cannot think in a hurry and in the midst of 
terrible emergencies, but the great man thinks 
the better for the very things that shake and dis- 
concert an every-day man. You may some day 
prove a great general, George/’ 

The boy blushed, but said nothing. Lance had 
then come up. “ Shall I have the carpenters go 


142 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


to work directly, sir, replacing that door? By 
night we can have as strong a one made and 
hung as the one they burst in,” he said. 

“ Certainty,” replied Lord Fairfax. “ Have 
them go all over the house and repair the dam- 
ages. But first let them have breakfast, for 
fighting always makes men hungry. And look 
after that wounded man over yonder.” 

Lance, who had some experience in gunshot 
wounds, went over and examined Black Bears 
injured leg carefully. He then ordered water 
brought, with some simple dressing, and washed 
and dressed the wound. Black Bear, through it 
all, maintained his stolid silence. When, how- 
ever, Lance had him picked up by two stalwart 
negroes and carried into their quarters, where a 
fire was burning, the Indian could not banish a 
faint expression of surprise from his countenance. 
He had heard that the white men treated prison- 
ers well, but he had no correct idea of what 
good treatment to prisoners meant. He was 
given a good breakfast, at which he was utterly 
astounded, but which he ate with a true Indian 
appetite. He gave no sign of feeling, however, 
except a grunt of approval. 

When George was relieved from his post he 
went to his room. As soon as he entered he saw 
Billy's ashy face, with his eyes nearly popping 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


143 


out of bis head, emerging from under the bed, 
while Rattler gave a yelp of delight. 

“Lord a’mighty, Marse George, I never tho’t 
ter see you agin!” exclaimed Billy, fervently. 
“ All de time dem balls was poppin’ me an’ 
Rattler was thinkin’ ’bout you, an’ when I hear 
one big gun a-gwine off I jest holler out loud, 
‘Marse George done daid — I know he done 
daid !’ ” 

“ I might have been dead a good many times 
for any help I had from you, you lazy scamp,” 
responded George, severely, at which Billy burst 
into tears, and wailed until “Marse George” 
condescended to be mollified. 


CHAPTER IX 


The remaining time of George’s stay at Green- 
way Court sped on rapidly — too fast for Lord 
Fairfax, who realized every day how close the 
boy had got to his heart. 

As for Lance, a real friendship had grown up 
between him and George, and the old soldier 
thought with keen regret of the impending de- 
parture. 

Black Bear had remained at Greenway until 
his wound was well on the way to recovery, but, 
as Lance said, “ An Injun can walk on a broken 
leg and climb a tree with a broken arm,” so that 
when Black Bear considered himself recovered 
a white man would have thought his cure scarce- 
ly begun. 

Lord Fairfax found out that the Indian was 
the son of Tanacharison, one of the few chiefs 
who were friendly to the English and unfriendly 
to the French. On finding this out the earl sent 
for Black Bear and had a long talk with him. 
With most Indians the idea of sparing an enemy 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


145 


seemed the extreme of folly ; but Black Bear was 
of superior intelligence, and it had dawned upon 
him long before that the white men knew more 
than the red men about most things. And when 
he himself became the object of kindness, when he 
recalled George’s remembering to give him water 
in his agony and Lance’s endeavors to cure his 
wound, the Indian’s hard but not ignoble heart 
was touched. His father was reported among 
the wisest of the chiefs, and he had warned his 
tribe against taking either the French or the 
English side, as it was not their quarrel. Lord 
Fairfax found that in Black Bear, an uneducated 
savage who could neither read nor write, he had 
a man of strong natural intelligence, and one 
worth conciliating. He came to Greenway Court 
with blood and fire in his heart, and he left it 
peaceably inclined, and anxious for the friend- 
ship of the white men. On the eve of his de- 
parture he said to George : 

“ White brother, if ever you are in the Indian 
land and want help call on Black Bear, or Tana- 
charison, the great chief, who dwells on the other 
side of the mountains where the two rivers come 
together, and you will be heard as quickly as the 
doe hears the bleat of her young.” 

Next morning Black Bear had disappeared, 
and was no more seen. 


10 


146 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


The time came, about the middle of December, 
when George left Greenway Court for Mount 
Vernon. It was in a mild spell of weather, and 
advantage had to be taken of it to make the 
journey, as the roads were likely to be impassa- 
ble later in the season. He was to travel on 
horseback, Billy following him on a mule and 
carrying the portmanteau. 

The night before he left he had a long conver- 
sation with Lord Fairfax in the library. The 
earl gently hinted at a wish that George might 
remain with him always, and that ample provi- 
sion would be made for him in that event ; but 
George, with tact and gratitude, evaded the 
point. He felt a powerful attachment towards 
Lord Fairfax, but he had no mind to be any- 
body’s son except his father’s and his mother’s 
son. The earl's last words on parting with him 
that night were : 

“ I desire you to promise me that, in any emer- 
gency of any kind — and there will be many in 
your life — you will call on me as your friend if 
not you father.” 

George answered, with gratitude in his heart : 
“ I will gladly promise that, my lord ; and it is 
great encouragement to me to feel that I have 
such a friend.” 

Next morning, after an early breakfast, 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


147 


George's horse and Billy’s mule were brought 
to the door. All the negroes were assembled 
to bid him good-bye. Caesar hoped he would 
come back soon, but not for any more fights 
with Indians, and each had some good wish for 
him. After shaking bands with each one, George 
grasped Lance’s hand. 

“ Good-bye, Lance,” said he. “ I never can 
thank you enough for what you have taught 
me ; not only fencing, but” — here George blushed 
a little at the recollection of his first fencing- 
lesson — “ teaching me to control my temper.” 

“ You were the aptest scholar I ever had, Mr. 
Washington,” answered the old soldier; “and as 
for your temper, I have never seen you anything 
but mild and gentle since that first day.” 

George then went to the library to find the 
earl. He had meant to say something expres- 
sive of gratitude, but all through his life words 
failed him when his heart was overflowing. 
Lord Fairfax, too, was silent for a moment; but 
taking down the smaller of the two swords over 
the mantel-piece he handed it to George.- 

“ This sword,” he said, “ I wore in the service 
of the Great Duke. I give it to you as being 
worthy to wear it, and I charge you never to 
draw it in an unworthy cause.” 

“ I promise you, my lord,” was all that George 


148 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


could say in reply; but Lord Fairfax, who was 
a good judge of men, knew all that was pass- 
ing in the boy’s heart. The two wrung each 
other’s hands, and George, going out, mounted 
his horse and rode off, with Billy trotting be- 
hind on the mule, and Battler running at his 
heels. 

For the first few miles George felt the keen 
regret which every sensitive young soul must 
feel at leaving a place and persons dearly loved. 
At the point on the mountain - side where, on 
his way to Greenway, the earl had stopped and 
showed him his first view of the house, George 
stopped again, and looked long and sadly. But 
once turned from it, and out of sight of it, his 
mind recovered its spring. He remembered that 
he was on the way to Mount Vernon, and would 
soon be with his brother Laurence and his sister- 
in-law, whom he dearly loved. Then there was 
little Mildred, a baby girl when he had been at 
Mount Vernon a year before. He wondered how 
big she was then. And Betty would be there, 
and he would hear from his mother, and see her 
soon after Christmas. On the whole, what with 
these pleasant prospects, and fine, clear Decem- 
ber weather, and a good horse to ride, George 
began to whistle cheerfully, and presently called 
back to Billy : 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


149 


“ How do yon like the notion of Christmas at 
Mount Vernon, Billy?” 

“ I likes it mightily, suh,” replied Billy, very 
promptly. “ Dee ain’ no Injuns at Mount Ver- 
non, an’ dee black folks git jes as good wittles 
in de kitchen as de white folks gits — tuckey, an’ 
graby, an' all de pudden dat’s lef’ over, an’ plenty 
o’ ’lasses, an’ heap o’ u’rr things.” 

George travelled much faster than the lum- 
bering coach in which he had made the best part 
of his first journey, and he had continuous good 
weather. On the fourth day, in the afternoon, 
he shouted delightedly to Billy : 

“ There is the blue water, Billy !” and pointed 
to a silver line that glittered in the wintry sun. 
It was the Potomac, and a few miles’ riding 
brought them to Mount Vernon. 

As George rode up to the broad front porch 
a girlish figure flew out of the door, and Betty 
clasped him in her arms. He knew he had al- 
ways loved Betty, but until then he did not fully 
realize how dear his only sister was to him. 
Then there was his brother Laurence, a hand- 
some, military-looking man, but pale and slight 
in comparison with George, who was a young 
Hercules in development ; and his sister-in-law, 
a pretty young woman of whom he was fond 
and proud. And toddling about was little Mil- 


150 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


dred, whom Betty had taught to say “Uncle 
George,” in anticipation of his arrival. All were 
delighted to see him, and his brother Laurence, 
telling him that Admiral Yernon, his old friend, 
for whom he had changed the name of the plan- 
tation to Mount Yernon from Hunting Creek, 
was visiting him, was for presenting him then 
and there to the admiral. But Betty interposed. 

“ Wait until George has changed his clothes, 
brother, for I am sure he looks much better in 
his blue-cloth jacket and his brocaded waistcoat, 
made of our mothers wedding-gown ; and I want 
the admiral to think well of him at first, and — 
oh, George has a sword ! He thinks he is a man 
now !” 

George blushed a little, but he was very will- 
ing, boy like, to tell of how Lord Fairfax gave 
him the rapier, and Laurence and Mrs. Washing- 
ton and Betty were all delighted, except that 
Betty wished it had been the one with the dia- 
mond hilt, which caused George to sniff at her 
ignorance. 

“ That was a sword that anybody could buy 
who had money enough ; but this is a sword 
that has seen service, as Lord Fairfax told me. 
He wore it at Bouchain.” 

As Betty had never heard of Bouchain before, 
she very wisely held her peace. But she soon 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


151 


dragged George off up-stairs to the little room 
which was his whenever he stayed at Mount 
Vernon, and where Billy had preceded him with 
the portmanteau. George was full of questions 
about his mother and everybody at Ferry Farm, 
and Betty was full of questions about Green way 
Court and Lord Fairfax, so they made but little 
headway in their mutual inquiries. Suddenly, 
as George glanced out of the window towards 
the river, he saw a beautiful black frigate lying 
at anchor. It was rrear sunset of a clear Decem- 
ber evening, and a pale green light was over the 
river, the land, and the sky. Every mast was 
clearly outlined, and her spars were exactly and 
beautifully squared in true man-of-war style. The 
union jack flying from her peak was distinctly 
visible in the evening light, and the faint echo 
of the bugle came softly over the water and died 
among the wooded hills along the shore. 

George stood motionless and entranced. It 
was the first ship of war he had ever seen, and 
the beauty and majesty of the sight thrilled him 
to the core of his heart. Betty chattered on 
glibly. 

“ That is the frigate Bellona. The captain 
and officers are here all the time, and some 
of them are brother Laurence’s old friends that 
he served with at the siege of Cartagena. I 


152 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


expect some of them will be here to supper to^ 
night. Besides Admiral Vernon, who is staying 
here, are Mr. William Fairfax and his son Will- 
iam,” and Betty rattled off a dozen names, show- 
ing that the house was full for Christmas. 

After Betty went out, when George, with 
Billy’s assistance, was putting on his best 
clothes, he could not keep his eyes from wan- 
dering to the window, through which the Bel- 
lona was still seen in the waning light, looming 
up larger as the twilight fell. Presently he saw 
a boat put off with several officers, which quick- 
ly made the Mount Vernon landing. 

When he was all dressed, with his fine white 
brocade waistcoat and his paste kneebuckles, he 
dearly wished to wear his sword, as gentlemen 
wore swords upon occasions when they were 
dressed for ceremony. But he felt both shy and 
modest about it, and at last concluded to leave 
it in his room. When he went down-stairs he 
found the lower hall was brightly illuminated 
with wax-candles and a glorious fire, and decked 
with holly and mistletoe. It was full of com- 
pany, several officers being present in uniform, 
and one tall, handsome, gray-haired officer stood 
before the hearth talking with Mrs. Laurence 
Washington. George guessed that to be Admi- 
ral Vernon, and his guess was correct. 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


153 


As he descended the last steps, and advanced 
to where Mrs. Laurence Washington stood, ever}?' 
eye that fell upon him admired him. His jour- 
ney, his intercourse with a man like Lord Fair- 
fax, and his fencing-lessons had improved his 
air and manner, graceful as both had been be- 
fore. Mrs. Washington, laying her hand on his 
shoulder, which was already on a level with the 
admiral’s, said : 

“ Let me present to } 7 ou my brother, Mr. 
George Washington, who has come to spend 
his Christmas with us.” 

Admiral Vernon glanced at him keenly as he 
shook hands with him. 

“ My brother has just returned from a visit to 
the Earl of Fairfax, at Green way Court, my fa- 
ther’s relative ” — for Mrs. Washington had been 
Anne Fairfax, of Bel voir. “ The earl has been 
most kind to him, and honored him by giving 
him the sword which he wore at the siege of 
Bouchain.” 

“ I believe he entered the town,” said Admiral 
Vernon. “I have often heard of the adventure, 
and it was most daring.” 

“ Why have you not the sword on, George ?” 
asked his sister. 

“ Because — because — ” George stammered, 
and then became hopelessly embarrassed. 


154 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


“ Because he is a modest young gentleman,” 
said the admiral, smiling. 

George was introduced to many other per- 
sons, all older than himself; but presently he 
recognized William Fairfax, a cousin of his sis- 
ter’s, who had been at Mount Yernon with him 
the Christmas before. William was a merry 
youngster, a year or two older than George, but 
a foot or two shorter. The two boys gravitated 
together, and as young gentlemen in those days 
were expected to be very retiring, they took 
their places in a corner, and when supper was 
announced they made up the very tail of the 
procession towards the dining-room. At supper 
the three young people — George and Betty and 
William Fairfax— sat together. The conversa- 
tion was gay and sprightly until the ladies left, 
when it grew more serious. 

“ Close up, gentlemen, close up!” cried Lau- 
rence Washington, cordially, motioning them to 
take the seats left vacant by the ladies. George 
and William Fairfax rose to leave the room then, 
as boys were not expected to remain on those 
occasions, but Laurence stopped them. 

“ Stay, George and William, you are both old 
enough now to be company for men; and espe- 
cially I desire an account from you, George, of 
how affairs are progressing at Greenway Court. 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


155 


I hear my Lord Fairfax had to repel an attack 
from the Indians within the last month. That, 
admiral,” he continued, turning to Admiral Ver- 
non, “is one of the pleasures which Lord Fair- 
fax exchanged for a residence in England.” 

“How does he stand it, Mr. Washington?” 
asked Admiral Vernon. “Does he remain in 
his eyrie among the mountains because he is too 
proud to acknowledge his loneliness ?” 

“ I think not, sir,” answered George. “ He 
has a very large, comfortable house, much like a 
fortress. It is well furnished with everything, 
including books ; my Lord Fairfax is the great- 
est reader I ever saw. He does not lead an idle 
life ; on the contrary, he takes great interest in 
public affairs, and is lieutenant of the county. 
Especially is he concerned about our northwest 
boundary, and is preparing to have his lands west 
of the Alleghany Mountains surveyed, I believe, as 
much in the interest of the country as of his own, 
for the French are encroaching on that side.” 

Although George spoke with the greatest 
modesty, it was evident that he understood his 
subject. It was a deeply interesting one to all 
present, as it v 7 as perfectly well known that the 
first serious collision between the French and 
English in America would mean war between 
France and England. 


156 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


Admiral Vernon and the other officers asked 
many questions about the temper of the Ind- 
ians towards the English, the disposition of the 
French forts, and other matters, to all of which 
George gave brief but intelligent answers. Af- 
ter an hour spent in conversation at the table 
the scraping of fiddles was heard in the hall. 

“Come, gentlemen,” cried Laurence, “the la- 
dies are waiting for us ; we cannot be so ungal- 
lant as to remain here longer.” 

The large room to the right of the entrance 
had been cleared for dancing, and there, too, 
were wax-candles shining amid Christmas-greens, 
and a Christmas fire blazing on the hearth. On 
two planks placed across two wooden “crickets” 
sat Yellow Jake and Lef-hand Torm, the negro 
fiddlers, tuning up their instruments and grin- 
ning from ear to ear. In every window merry 
black faces peered with beady eyes and shin- 
ing ivories; for under the mild and patriarchal 
rule in A T irginia in those days the negroes were 
considered as humble members of the family, 
who had a share in all its pleasures as in all its 
sorrows. There were many ladies present in 
hoops and powder, and with stiff brocades that 
rustled as they walked, and great fans, which 
they used in dancing the minuet as the gentle- 
men used their cocked hats. George, in his 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


157 


heart, thought his sister Anne the handsomest 
of them all, and that in a year or two Betty 
would be a charmingly pretty girl. As it was, 
Mistress Betty, in her white sarcenet silk, looked 
a picture of modest and girlish beauty. She 
loved to dance ; and when George came up, as 
the gentlemen were selecting their partners, and 
said, with a smile, “ Come, Betty, nobody here 
wants to dance with a girl and boy like you 
and me, so we will have to dance together,” 
Betty jumped for joy. 

“ If I had waited, William Fairfax would have 
asked me to dance,” she vdiispered to George; 
“ but I would much rather dance with you, be- 
cause you are so much taller and older looking, 
and William is such a boy!” 

William, however, was very gladly accepted 
later in the evening, when George, on being no- 
ticed by the other ladies, who admired his grace- 
ful manners and fine appearance, neglected Bet- 
ty for them, after the manner of very young 
crentlemen. The first dance was a minuet de 

O 

la coni ' , the most graceful and dignified of all 
dances. Mrs. Washington, dancing with Admiral 
Yernon, took the head of the room, and motioned 
George and Betty to take the place opposite her. 
The minuet was formed, the fiddlers gave an ex- 
tra flourish, and the dance began, with every 


158 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


lady courtesy ing to the ground and spreading 
her fan, while the gentlemen bowed so low that 
they swept the floor with their cocked hats. 
Among them all no couple were more graceful 
and dignified than the boy and girl. Betty 
danced with the utmost gravity, making her 
“ bow, slip, slide, and pirouette ” in the most dain- 
tilv careful manner. George’s noble figure and 

J O O 

perfect grace were well adapted to this charm- 
ing dance, and many compliments were paid both 
of them, which made Betty smile delightedly 
and George turn red with pleasure. When the 
stately minuet was over the fiddlers struck into 
Betty’s favorite, the “ Marquis of Huntley's Rig- 
adoon,” which was as jolly and harum-scarum 
as the minuet was serious and dignified. Betty 
in her heart liked the rigadoon best, and whis- 
pered to George that “ William was good enough 
for the rigadoon.” William therefore came for- 
ward, and the two had a wild romp to the music 
of two energetic fiddlers. George was rather 
shy about asking the ladies, all of whom were 
older than he, to dance ; but having made the 
plunge, he was accepted, and afterwards poor 
Betty had no one to depend upon but William 
Fairfax, who was equally ill off for partners. 
No one was gayer or more gallant than the 
gray -haired Admiral Vernon, and the veteran 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


159 


sailor and the boy George divided between 
them the honors of the evening. 

The dance stopped early, as the next day was 
Christmas, and the} 7 were sure to be roused 
betimes ; and, besides, there was to be a grand 
ball for all the gentry round about on Christ- 
mas night. 

When George went up to his room he was 
very well inclined for bed from his day’s travel 
and his evening’s amusement, and Billy was snooz- 
ing comfortably before the fire, with Battler 
asleep within reach. Before George slept, how- 
ever, he wrote two letters — one to his mother 
and another to Lord Fairfax. Mount Vernon 
and its gayety, and the new faces he had met, 
had not put out of his mind the two persons so 
loved and admired by him. But as soon as his 
letters were written he tumbled into bed, and 
was asleep in less time than it takes to tell it. 



CHAPTER X 


It seemed to George that he had not been in 
bed an hour before he heard, in the gray glim- 
mer of dawn, Billy’s voice, crying: 

“ Chris’mus, Marse George, Chris’mus ! an' jes 
listen to dem niggers singin 1 under de winder !” 
Although a sound sleeper, George always waked 
quickly, and in an instant he recognized the 
Christmas melody that floated upward from the 
ground outside. A dozen or so of the field 
hands were marching around the house just as 
the first faint grayness of the Christmas Dav 
appeared, and singing, in their rich, sweet, un- 
trained voices, a song with the merry refrain, 

“ White folks, black folks, Chris’mus am heah, 

An’ Chris'mus comes but oncet a year, 

An’ dis is Chris’mus mawnin’l” 

% 

Sounds showed that the house was stirring. 

c"> 

Laurence Washington, as the master, had to 
dress and go down-stairs to give the singers the 
treat they expected. Betty got up and dressed 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


1G1 


herself at the first sound, and, tapping on George’s 
door, called softly, “ Merry Christmas, George !” 
Nobody could sleep much after that, and soon 
after sunrise everybody was up, and “Merry 
Christmas ” resounded through the whole house. 
The negroes were most vociferous, as this was 
their favorite holiday, and no work, except the 
feeding of the stock and the cutting of wood, w T as 
to be done for several days — that is, as long as 
the back log on the Christmas fire remained un- 
consumed. The putting of this log on the fire 
was an annual ceremony that George thought 
most amusing. The English officers thought 
so, too, and watched it with the greatest interest. 
Before breakfast was served, when all the guests 
were assembled in the hall, Uncle Manuel, the 
butler, who was very tall and very black, and 
who wore, on great occasions, a pair of scarlet 
satin knee-breeches that had once belonged to 
Laurence Washington, appeared and announced, 
with a condescending smile, that “ de boys ” had 
come with the back log. 

Amid much grinning and shoving and jostling 
and chuckling four stalwart negro men walked 
in the house carrying a huge log, which was 
placed at the back of the great fireplace, upon 
the tall iron fire-dogs. It was of unseasoned 

black gum, a wood hard to burn at all times, and 
11 


162 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


this particular log had been well soaked in a 
neighboring swamp. It was the privilege of the 
negroes to select the back log, and although the 
masters and mistresses knew perfectly well that 
everything was done to make it as non-combus- 
tible as possible, the plantation joke was to pre- 
tend that it was as dry as a bone and would 
burn like tinder. 

“We fotch you a mighty fine back lorg dis 
time, mistis,” grinned the head man. “ Hit gwi’ 
bu’n same like lightwood.” At which Mrs. 
Washington looked grave, as she was expected 
to look, while a general guffaw went around 
among the negroes. 

“ I ’spect we ain’ gwi’ to have no holiday ’tall 
ef we has to go ter wuk as soon as dis heah lorg 
bu’n up,” chuckled another. 

“ 1 Tain’ gwi’ lars’ mo’n fer Christmas Day !” 

“ I think I saw a black gum log soaking in the 
swamp a few days ago,” said Laurence, smiling 
at the grinning faces before him ; but there was 
a chorus immediately : 

“ Haw, suh ; dis lorg ain' never had a drap o’ 
water on it, an’ we all’s been dryin’ it fer a whole 
mont’.” The log was then steaming like a tea- 
kettle, and the negroes yah-yahed with delight 
at the ready acceptance of their ruse. 

“Very well, then,” cried Laurence Washing- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


163 


ton ; “ you can all have holiday until this log is 
burned out, and if I am not mistaken it will last 
the week through !” 

Immediately after breakfast horses were 
brought out, and the great coach, and several 
gigs and chaises, to take a party to old Pohick 
Church. There was to be a service, however, on 
the Bellona , and the “ church flag” was flying 
from her peak. Admiral Yernon invited George 
to go with him on board the ship. They went 
to the landing, where the captain’s gig awaited 
them. On board the Bellona everything was 
as clean as hands could make it, the ship was 
dressed, and the men, being excused from work 
that day, were in their Sunday clothes and pre- 
pared for their holiday. 

The service, performed by the chaplain, was 
held upon the gun-deck. Four hundred sailors, 
in spotless clothing and each with a sprig of 
mistletoe in his glazed hat, were assembled, seat- 
ed on capstan - bars, which made improvised 
benches.- In front of them their officers were 
assembled, the captain at their head, while in 
front of the officers were the admiral and his 
guests. Never had George seen a more beautiful 
and reverent service. The sailors were reminded 
of their homes in green England, far away, and 
every heart was softened by the recollection. 


164 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


The officers needed no reminder of their families 
and friends at home, and all felt drawn together 
in sympathy at their common separation from 
those dearest to them. 

After the service the admiral took George 
over the ship, showing him all the beauty and 
strength of her. The bo} T gazed with wonder 
and delight at her trim yards, her immaculate 
decks, and at the rows of menacing guns in her 
batteries. Until then he had strongly inclined to 
the army, but in the first flush of his new enthu- 
siasm he longed to be a naval officer. There 
were several midshipmen of his own age on 
board, to whom the admiral introduced him, and 
George yearned, boy fashion, to wear a smart 
uniform like theirs, and to carry a midshipman’s 
dirk. lie said little ; his enthusiasms were all of 
that silent kind which burn the more furiously 
because their blaze is concealed. But the mo- 
ment he reached the house, after leaving the 
ship, he went straight to his brother Laurence’s 
study, and marched in with this bold announce- 
ment : 

“ Brother Laurence, I want to serve in the 
king’s navy.” 

Laurence looked up smiling at George’s ear- 
nest face, in which a fixed purpose was plainly 


seen. 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


165 


“ I should have preferred the army for you,” 
responded Laurence. “ But if a youngster will 
serve in the king’s navy, in the king’s navy he 
must serve.” 

“ And will you get me my warrant ?” eagerly 
asked George. 

“ The fact is,” continued Laurence, “ I have a 
midshipman’s warrant offered me for you at this 
very time. Admiral Yernon has the privilege 
of nominating a midshipman on the Bellona , and 
some days ago, in speaking of your arrival, he 
asked me, as my old friend, if it would be agree- 
able to my family to appoint you in his majes- 
ty’s naval service. I told him I had not yet con- 
sulted with Madam. Washington, but I had no 
doubt whatever that it would be highly agree- 
able to her, and the admiral assured me that it 
would be at my service at any time.” 

George stood perfectly breathless with sur- 
prise. His first thought was that surely he was 
the most fortunate boy in the world. At that 
moment there was a knock at the door and Ad- 
miral Yernon entered. 

“ Ah, admiral!” cried Laurence, “you see be- 
fore you a very happy lad. He is overjoyed at 
the notion of entering the naval service.” 

“ It would be a thousand pities to lose so fine 
a fellow from the king’s navy,” said the admiral, 


166 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


smiling. George wished to thank him, but when 
he tried to speak he felt a choking sensation, al- 
beit he was so happy. It was so exactly what 
he wanted at that very time ; and how few there 
are who get what they want before the wish for 
it has departed ! 

All the rest of that day George felt as if he 
were walking on air. lie made plans for his 
whole life ahead, and already saw himself an ad- 
miral. He thought it would not be right to 
speak of this beautiful plan for him to any one 
until his mother knew it, and so he would give 
no hint to Betty, or even tell it, as he longed to 
do, to Billy. But when in his room in the af- 
ternoon, before the Christmas dinner, Battler 
jumped upon him and licked his hands, George 
could not forbear whispering to him : “ Good 
dog, your master will soon be a midshipman !” 
lie had gone to his room to carry out his inten- 
tion of reading every day something out of a use- 
ful book ; but his heart was too full to read, 
and his book lay unopened while he sat before 
the fire in a happy dream, slowly passing Battler’s 
silkv ears through his hand. From his chair he 
could see through his window the handsome frig- 
ate lying motionless in the stream. Some of the 
men were dancing on the fok’sle to the sound of 
a fiddle and tambour played by two of the crew. 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


167 


In George’s eyes, infatuated as he was with the 
navy, she was the stateliest beauty of a ship he 
had ever seen, and he thought every man on her 
must be altogether happy. 

At five o’clock there was a grand Christmas 
dinner. The ladies wore their gayest gowns, the 
officers were in full uniform, and the other gen- 
tlemen present were in all the splendor of velvet 
coats and breeches and ruffled shirts. There was 
much laughter and many toasts, and at the end 
of the dinner Uncle Manuel, gorgeous in his 
scarlet silk breeches, entered, bearing aloft, on a 
huge platter, a plum-pudding blazing with blue 
flames, and with sprigs of mistletoe stuck in it. 
Afterwards, in the hall, came off the ceremony of 
placing the branch of mistletoe on the lantern 
that hung from the ceiling. Then there was 
great jollity and a merry scramble, for, according 
to the hearty custom of the time, any lady caught 
under the mistletoe could be kissed by any gen- 
tleman who caught her. George and William 
Fairfax secretly longed to act the mannish part 
and join in the sport, but both felt quite over- 
come with bashfulness at the idea, and only 
watched the gay doings from afar. Not so Bet- 
ty, who quite assumed the young lady, and who 
not only treated William Fairfax as if he had 
been an infant, but gave herself lofty airs towards 


168 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


George, whom she had heretofore regarded with 
the greatest respect. Then, soon after dark, 
the coaches of the neighboring gentry drove up 
with the guests. In the hall the negro fiddlers 
were in great force, and sawed the air from 
eight o’clock in the evening until daylight next 
morning. Besides the minuet and rigadoon there 
were jigs and reels, and at last every body, young 
and old, danced Sir Eoger de Coverley, while the 
candles sputtered in their sockets and the chick- 
ens crowed outside. George danced all night 
with the greatest enjoyment, not finding any dif- 
ficulty in obtaining partners, all of the ladies being 
willing to dance with so handsome a stripling. 
Amono: the quests who came from a distance 
was a remarkably pretty young girl of about 
George’s age, Miss Martha Dandridge. With 
her George danced Sir Koger de Coverley, going 
down the middle swinging partners, and making 
the grand march to the music of the crashing 
fiddles and dancing feet. When at last it was 
over, and in the gray dawn the coaches and 
chaises rattled off, and the ball was over, George 
thought it was the finest ball he had ever seen in 
his life. 

For a week ga}^ety and jollity prevailed at 
Mount Yernon. There were fox-hunts, when 
the huntsmen assembled by daybreak, and the 



EVER SEEN 






A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


169 


winding of the horns, and the hounds with 
tongues tuned like bells, echoed across the river 
and among the hills ; and after a day’s hard rid- 
ing there would be a jolly dinner and dancing 
afterwards. Then there was a great party 
aboard of the Bellona , where the decorations 
were all of flags and warlike emblems. George’s 
enthusiasm for the navy did not decrease in the 
least, but rather gained by being in company 
with so many officers, and feeling obliged to 
keep his delightful secret of a promised com- 
mission to himself. He became friends with 
the midshipmen, and in his heart he enjoyed 
more his visits to the cockpit, with all its dis- 
comforts, than the luxury of the admiral’s cabin 
and the comfort of the wardroom. He was 
never weary of listening to the officers telling 
of their adventures; and his expressive young 
face, with the blood coming and going like a 
girl’s, showed his overpowering interest in what 
he heard. No real doubt of his mother’s con- 
sent entered his mind ; and if the thought occa- 
sionally crossed him that her consent must be 
asked and might not be given, he dismissed it, 
as all young and ardent natures dismiss unpleas- 
ant possibilities. 

Among the quieter pleasures which he had at 
this time was that of making friends with little 


170 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


Mildred, the two-year-old daughter to which his 
brother and sister were so devoted. They had 
lost three other children ; and in a time of the 
utmost sadness after their deaths, when Lau- 
rence Washington realized his own delicate con- 
stitution, and the chances that none of his chil- 
dren might live, he had made his will, giving 
Mount Vernon and all he had, if he should leave 
no children, to George. But this little one bade 
fair to grow up into a healthy and happy child. 

Betty, who was by nature a little mother, was 
never more at home than when she had charge 

O 

of the child, and could take as good care of her 
as any grown person. George, on the contrary, 
although his heart went out to the little girl, 
regarded her as a piece of china that might be 
broken by touching her. But Mildred took a 
violent fancy to him, and was never so happy 
as when carried about in his strong young arms, 
or sitting on his knee while he made rabbits out 
of his handkerchief and pictures out of the shad- 
ows on the wall, and was ready to do anything 
and to give her anything that would amuse her. 
He had never been thrown with a child of that 
age before, and regarded every instance of her 
baby cleverness as the most extraordinary thing 
in the world, to the amusement of his brother 
and sister. 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


171 


The year before George had found William 
Fairfax a delightful boyish companion, but this 
year, with his new experiences, and the compa- 
ny of the young officers on the Bellona , George 
unconsciously neglected him. But William, who 
had a sweet and forgiving nature, showed no 
ill-humor over it, and said to himself : “ Never 
mind ; when the ship goes away, and all the vis- 
itors, George will again find me good company.” 

And such was the case. On the morning that 
the Bellona loosed her top-sail, as a sign that she 
was about to trip her anchor, George felt utter- 
ly forlorn. He wondered how he should get 
through the time until he could go to Ferry 
Farm and, securing his mother's consent, join 
the ship before she sailed from the Chesapeake. 
So eager was he that Laurence, in the goodness 
of his heart, had ordered, at his own expense, 
George’s uniforms to be made in Alexandria, 
and he was given his side-arms from the stores 
on board the Bellona. George in fancy already 
saw himself Midshipman Washington. Admiral 
Vernon, on parting, had said some kind words 
to him which sank deep in his heart. “ I shall 
look forward with pleasure to your joining, Mr. 
Washington,” he said. “It is just such young- 
sters as you that we want in the navy.” George 
thanked him with shining eyes. 


172 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


On a bleak January day the Bellona went 
out. George watched from the shore as long 
as he could see her, and sighed as he turned 
back to the house. On his way back he was 
joined by William Fairfax. 

“George,” said William, diffidently, “I am 
afraid we are not as good friends as we were 
last year.” 

“ Why ?” asked George, in surprise. He had 
almost forgotten William’s existence in the last 
few busy and exciting days, and he had felt so 
immeasurably older than he that companionship 
seemed out of the question. 

“ Because,” said William, “you do not seem to 
care for my company any longer.” 

George stopped, and his heart and his con- 
science smote him. William was his sister's 
cousin and his brother's guest, and he had been 
neglected by both George and Betty ; for Betty 
had grown about ten years, in her own estima- 
tion, since dancing with officers and being al- 
lowed to come to the first table. George thought 
this rather ridiculous of Betty; but was it not 
equally ridiculous of him to lord it over Will- 
iam, as if there were twenty years between 
them, instead of William being actually older 
than he ? 

“ I see how it is, William," said George, after 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


173 


a. pause. “ I dare say I have often made a fool of 
myself in this last week, talking to men as if I 
were their equal, and to boys of my own age as 
if I were a man. But, although you may laugh 
at me, I do feel a great deal older in the last two 
months — I suppose because I have been with 
men like Lord Fairfax and Lance, and then 
Admiral Yernon and his officers. But if you 
will be friends again with me I will promise 
not to treat you as I have done, and I ac- 
knowledge it was not very gentlemanly of 
me.” 

William was of too gentle a nature to resist 
this, and the two boys in five minutes were as 
good friends as ever. George recalled how si- 
lently William had borne neglect, how ready he 
had been to be friends again, and he wondered 
if he himself had so much generosity. 

The house seemed strangely quiet after all the 
company had left, and there were no more routs 
and balls and romping and hunting. Snow had 
fallen, and George and Betty were waiting for 
good weather before attempting the journey 
back to Ferry Farm. George spoke to Betty 
about William, acknowledging that he had been 
as much to blame as she ; and Betty, being 
of a generous nature, felt ashamed of herself, 
with the result that William enjoyed the latter 


174 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


part of the time much more than the first. But 
he was destined to have one more clash with 
George before their friendship became so firmly 
cemented that it lasted during the whole of 
their lives. 


CHAPTER XI 


One night, some days after this, George was 
awakened in the middle of the night by hearing- 
persons stirring in the house. He rose, and, slip- 
ping on his clothes, softly opened his door. Lau- 
rence Washington, fully dressed, was standing in 
the hall. 

“ What is the matter, brother ?” asked George. 

“ The child Mildred is ill,” answered Lau- 
rence, in much agitation. “It seems to be written 
that no child of mine shall live. Dr. Craik has 
been sent for, but he is so long in coming that I 
am afraid she will die before he reaches here.” 

“ I will fetch him, brother,'’ said George, in a 
resolute manner. “ I will go for Dr. Craik, and 
if I cannot get him I will go to Alexandria for 
another doctor.” 

He ran down-stairs and to the stable, and in 
five minutes he had saddled the best horse in 
the stable and was off for Dr. Craik’s, five miles 
away. As he galloped on through the darkness, 
plunging through the snow, and taking all the 


176 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


short cuts he could find, his heart stood still for 
fear the little girl might die. lie loved her dear- 
ly — all her baby ways and childish fondness for 
himself coming back to him with the sharpest 
pain — and his brother and sister, whose hopes 
were bound up in her. George thought, if the 
child's life could be spared, he would give more 
than he could tell. 

He reached Dr. Craik's after a hard ride. The 
barking of the dogs, as he rode into the yard, 
wakened the doctor, and he came to the door 
with a candle in his hand, and in his dressing- 
gown. In a few words George told his business, 
and begged the doctor to start at once for Mount 
Vernon. No message had been received, and at 
that very time the negro messenger, who had 
mistaken the road, was at least five miles off, 
going in the opposite direction. 

“ How am I to get to Mount Vernon ?” asked 
the doctor. “ As you know, I only keep two 
horses. One I lent to a neighbor yesterday, and 
to-night, when I got home from my round, my 
other horse was dead lame.” 

“ Ride this horse back !” cried George. “ I can 
walk easily enough ; but there must be a doctor 
at Mount Vernon to-night. If you could have 
seen my brothers face — I did not see my poor 
sister, but — ” 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


177 


“Very well,” answered the doctor, coolly. “I 
never delay a moment when it is possible to get 
to a patient ; and if you will trudge the five 
miles home I will be at Mount Yernon as soon 
as this horse can take me there.” 

Dr. Craik went into the house to get his sad- 
dle-bags, and in a few minutes he appeared, fully 
prepared, and, mounting the horse, started for 
Mount Yernon at a sharp canter. 

George set out on his long and disagreeable 
tramp. He was a good walker, but the snow 
troubled him, and it was nearly daylight before 
he found himself in sight of the house. Lights 
were moving about, and, with a sinking heart, 
George felt a presentiment that his little play- 
mate was hovering between life and death. 
When he entered the hall he found a fire burn- 
ing, and William Fairfax sitting by it. Ho one 
had slept at Mount Yernon that night. George 
was weary and wet up to his knees, but his first 
thought was for little Mildred. 

“She is still very ill, I believe,” said William. 
“ Dr. Craik came, and Cousin Anne met him at 
the door, and she burst into tears. The doctor 
said you were walking back, and Cousin Anne 
said, 4 1 will always love George the better for 
this night.’ ” 

George went softly up the stairs and listened 
12 


178 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


at the nursery door. He tapped, and Betty 
opened the door a little. He could see the child’s 
crib drawn up to the fire, the doctor hanging 
over it, while the poor father and mother clung 
together a little way off. 

“ She is no worse/’ whispered Betty. 

With this sorry comfort George went to his 
room and changed his clothes. As he came 
down -stairs he saw his brother and sister go 
down before him for a little respite after their 
long watch ; but on reaching the hall no one 
was there but William Fairfax, standing in the 
same place before the hearth. George went up 
and began to warm his chilled limbs. Then 
William made the most indiscreet speech of his 
life — one of those things which, uninspired by 
malice, and the mere outspoken word of a heed- 
less person, are yet capable of doing infinite 
harm and causing extreme pain. 

“ George,” said he, “ } r ou know if Mildred 
dies you will get Mount Vernon and all your 
brothers fortune.” 

George literally glared at William. His tem- 
per, naturally violent, blazed within him, and his 
nerves, through fatigue and anxiety and his 
long walk, not being under his usual control, he 
felt capable of throttling William where he 
stood. 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


179 


“ Do you mean to say — do you think that I 
want my brother’s child to die ? — that I — ■” 

George spoke in a voice of concentrated rage 
that frightened William, who could only stam- 
mer, “ I thought — perhaps — I — I — ” 

The next word was lost, for George, hitting 
out from the shoulder, struck William full in the 
chest, who fell over as if he had been shot. 

The blow brought back George’s reason. He 
stood amazed and ashamed at his own violence 
and folly. William rose without a word, and 
looked him squarely in the eye; he was con- 
scious that his words, though foolish, did not 
deserve a blow. He was no match physically 
for George, but he was not in the least afraid of 
him. Some one else, however, besides the two 
boys had witnessed the scene. Laurence Wash- 
ington, quietly opening wide a door that had 
been ajar, walked into the hall, followed by his 
wife, and said, calmly : 

“ George, did I not see you strike a most 
unmanly blow just now — a blow upon a boy 
smaller than yourself, a guest in this house, 
and at a time when such things are particularly 
shocking 

George, his face as pale as death and unable 
to raise his eyes from the floor, replied, in a low 
voice, “ Yes, brother, and I think I was crazy for 


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A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


a moment. I ask William’s pardon, and yours, 
and my sister’s — ” 

Laurence continued to look at him with stern 
and, as George felt, just displeasure; but Mrs. 
Washington came forward, and, laying her hand 
on his shoulder, said, sweetly : 

“You were very wrong, George; but I heard 
it all, and I do not believe that anything could 
make you wish our child to die. Your giving up 
your horse to the doctor shows how much you 
love her, and I, for one, forgive you for what 
you have done.” 

“Thank you, sister,” answered George; but he 
could not raise his eyes. lie had never in all his 
life felt so ashamed of himself. In a minute or 
two he recovered himself, and held out his hand 
to William. 

“ I was wrong too, George,” said William; “ I 
ought not to have said what I did, and I am 
willing to be friends again/’ 

The two boys shook hands, and without one 
word each knew that he had a friend forever in 
the other one. And presently Dr. Craik came 
down-stairs, saying cheerfully to Mrs. Washing- 
ton : 

“ Madam, your little one is asleep, and I think 
the worst is past.” 

For some days the child continued ill, and 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


181 


George’s anxiety about her, his wish to do some- 
thing for her in spite of his boyish incapacity 
to do so, showed how fond he was of her. She 
began to mend, however, and George was de- 
lighted to find that she was never better satisfied 
than when carried about in his strong young 
arms. William Fairfax, who was far from being 
a foolish fellow, in spite of his silly speech, grew 
to be heartily ashamed of the suspicion that 
George would be glad to profit by the little girl’s 
death when he saw how patiently George would 
amuse her hour after hour, and how willingly he 
would give up his beloved hunting and shooting 
to stay with her. 

In the early part of January the time came 
when George and Betty must return to Ferry 
Farm. George went the more cheerfully, as he 
imagined it would be his last visit to his mother 
before joining his ship. Laurence was also of 
this opinion, and George’s warrant as midship- 
man had been duly received. He had written 
to Madam Washington of Admiral Yernon’s 
offer, but he had received no letter from her in 
reply. This, however, he supposed was due to 
Madam Washington’s expectation of soon see- 
ing George, and he thought her consent abso- 
lutely certain. 

On a mild January morning George and Betty 


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A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


left Mount Vernon for home in a two-wheeled 
chaise, which Laurence Washington sent as a 
present to his step - mother. In the box under 
the seat were packed Betty’s white sarcenet silk 
and George’s clothes, including three smart uni- 
forms. The possession of these made George 
feel several years older than William Fairfax, 
who started for school the same day. The rapier 
which Lord Fairfax had given him and his mid- 
shipman’s dirk, which he considered his most 
valuable belongings, were rather conspicuously 
displayed against the side of the chaise ; for 
George was but a boy, after all, and delighted 
in these evidences of his approaching manhood. 
His precious commission was in his breast-pocket. 
Billy was to travel on the trunk -rack behind 
the chaise, and was quite content to dangle his 
legs from Mount Vernon to Ferry Farm, while 
Battler trotted along beside them. Usually it 
was a good day’s journey, but in winter, when 
the roads were bad, it was necessary to stop over 
a night on the way. It had been determined to 
make this stop at the home of Colonel Fielding 
Lewis, an old friend of both Madam Washing- 
ton and Laurence Washington. 

All of the Mount Vernon family, white and 
black, were assembled on the porch, directly 
after breakfast, to say good - bye to the young 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


183 


travellers. William Fairfax, on horseback, was 
to start in another direction. Little Mildred, in 
her black mammy’s arms, was kept in the hall, 
away from the raw winter air. Betty kissed 
her a dozen times, and cried a little ; but when 
George took her in his arms, and, after holding 
her silently to his breast, handed her back to her 
mammy, the little girl clung to him and cried so 
piteously that George had to unlock her baby 
arms from around his neck and run away. 

On the porch his brother and sister waited 
for him, and Laurence said : 

“ I desire you, George, to deliver the chaise to 
your mother, from me, with my respectful com- 
pliments, and hopes that she will soon make use 
of it to visit us at Mount Yernon. For yourself, 
let me hear from you by the first hand. The 
Bellona will be in the Chesapeake within a 
month, and probably up this river, and you 
are now prepared to join at a moment’s no- 
tice.” 

George’s heart was too full for many words, 
but his flushed and beaming face showed how 
pleased he was at the prospect. Laurence, how- 
ever, could read George’s boyish heart very well, 
and smiled at the boy’s delight. Both Betty 
and himself kissed and thanked their sister for 
her kindness, and, after they had said good-bye 


184 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


to William, and shook hands with all the house- 
servants, the chaise rattled off. 

Betty had by nature one of the sunniest tem- 
pers in the world, and, instead of going back 
glumly and unwillingly to her modest home after 
the gayeties and splendors of Mount Yernon, 
congratulated herself on having had so merry 
a time, and was full of gratitude to her mother 
for allowing her to come. And then she was 
alone with George, and had a chance to ask him 
dozens of things that she had not thought of in 
the bustle at Mount Yernon ; so the two drove 
along merrily, Betty chattering a good deal, and 
George talking much more than he usually did. 

They reached Barn Elms before sunset, and 
met with a cordial welcome from Colonel Lewis 
and the large family of children and guests that 
could always be found in the Yirginia country- 
houses of those days. At supper a long table 
was tilled, mostly with merry young people. 
Among them was young Fielding Lewis, a hand- 
some fellow a little older than George, and there 
was also Miss Martha Dandridge, the handsome 
young lady with whom George had danced Sir 
Roger de Coverley on Christmas night at Mount 
Yernon. In the evening the drawing-room floor 
was cleared, and everybody danced. Colonel Lewis 
himself, a portly gentleman of sixty, leading off 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


185 


the rigadoon with Betty, which George again 
danced with Martha Dandridge. They had so 
merry a time that they were sorry to leave next 
morning. Colonel Lewis urged them to stay, 
but George felt they must return home, more 
particularly as it was the first time that he and 
Betty had been trusted to make a journey alone. 

All that day they travelled, and about sunset, 
when within five miles of home, a tire came off 
one of the wheels of the new chaise, and they had 
to stop at a blacksmith’s shop on the road-side 
to have it mended. Billy, however, was sent 
ahead to tell their mother that they were com- 
ing, and George was in hopes that Billy’s sins 
would be overlooked, considering the news he 
brought, and the delightful excitement of the 
meeting. 

The blacksmith was slow, and the wheel was 
in a bad condition, so it was nearly eight o’clock 
of a January night before they were in the gate 
at Ferry Farm. It Avas A\fide open, the house 
was lighted up, and in the doorway stood Madam 
Washington and the three little boys. Every 
negro, big and little, on the place was assem- 
bled, and shouts of “ HoAvdy, Marse George ! 
Howdy, Miss Betty!” resounded. The dogs 
barked with pleasure at recognizing George and 
Betty, and the commotion was great. 


186 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


As soon as they reached the door Betty 
jumped out, before the chaise came to a stand- 
still, and rushed into her mother's arms. She 
was quickly followed by George, who, much 
taller than his mother, folded her in a close em- 
brace, and then the boys were hugged and kissed. 
Madam Washington led him into the house, and 
looked him all over with pride and delight, he 
was so grown, so manly ; his very walk had ac- 
quired a new grace, such as comes from asso- 
ciation with graceful and polished society. She 
was brimming with pride, but she only allowed 
herself to say : 

“ How much you have grown, my son !” 

“ And the chaise is yours, mother,” struck in 
Betty. “ Brother Laurence sent it you — all 
lined inside with green damask, and a stuffed 
seat, and room for a trunk behind, and a box 
under the seat.” 

George rather resented this on Betty's part, 
as he thought he had the first right to make so 
important an announcement as the gift of a 
chaise, and said, with a severe look at Betty : 

“ My brother sent it you, mother, with his 
respectful compliments, and hopes that the first 
use you will make of it will be to visit him and 
my sister at Mount Vernon.” 

Betty, however, was in no mood to be set back 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


187 


by a trifling snub like that, so she at once plunged 
into a description of the gayeties at Mount Yer- 
non. This was interrupted by supper, which had 
been kept for them, and then it was nine o’clock, 
and Betty was nearly falling asleep, and George 
too, was tired, and it was the hour for family 
prayers. For the first time in months George 
read prayers at his mother’s request, and she add- 
ed a special thanksgiving for the return of her 
two children in health and happiness, and then it 
was bedtime. Madam Washington had not once 
mentioned his midshipman’s warrant to George. 
This did not occur to him until he was in bed, 
and then, with the light heart of youth, he dis- 
missed it as a mere accident. No doubt she was 
as proud as he, although the parting would be 
hard on both, but it must come in some form or 
other, and no matter how long or how far, they 
never could love each other any less — and George 
fell asleep to dream that he was carrying the 
Bellona into action in the most gallant style 
possible. 

Next morning he was up and on horseback 
early, riding over the place, and thinking with 
half regret and half joy that he would soon be 
far away from the simple plantation life. At 
breakfast Betty talked so incessantly and the lit- 
tle boys were so full of questions that Madam 


188 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


"Washington had no opportunity for serious talk, 
but as soon as it was over she said : 

“ Will you come to my room, George?’'’ 

“ In a minute, mother,” answered George, ris- 
ing and darting up-stairs. 

lie would show himself to her in his uniform. 
He had the natural pride in it that might have 
been expected, and, as he slipped quickly into it 
and put the dashing cap on his fair hair and 
stuck his dirk into his belt, he could not help 
a thrill of boyish vanity. He went straight to 
his mothers room, where she stood awaiting 
him. 

The first glance at her face struck a chill to his 
heart. There was a look of pale and quiet de- 
termination upon it that was far from encourag- 
ing. Nevertheless, George spoke up promptly. 

“ My warrant, mother, is up-stairs, sent me, as 
my brother wrote you, by Admiral Vernon. And 
my brother, out of his kindness, had all my out- 
lit made for me in Alexandria. I am to join the 
Bellona frigate within the month.” 

“Will you read this letter, my son ?” was Mad- 
am Washington’s answer, handing him a letter. 

George took it from her. He recognized the 
handwriting of liis uncle, Joseph Ball, in Eng- 
land. It ran, after the beginning : “ ‘ I under- 
stand you are advised and have some thoughts 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


189 


of putting your son George to sea.’ ” George 
stopped in surprise, and looked at his mother. 

“ I suppose,” she said, quietly, “that he has 
heard that your brother Laurence mentioned to 
me months ago that you wished to join the king’s 
land or sea service, but my brother’s words are 
singularly apt now.” 

George continued to read. 

“ ‘ I think he had better be put apprentice to a 
tinker, for a common sailor before the mast has 
by no means the common liberty of the subject, 
for they will press him from ship to ship, where 
he has fifty shillings a month, and make him take 
twentj 7 -three, and cut and slash and use him like 
a dog.’ ” 

George read this with amazement. 

“ My uncle evidently does not understand that 
I never had any intention of going to sea as a 
common sailor,” he said, his face flushing, “and I 
am astonished that he should think such a thing.” 

“ Eead on,” said his mother, quietly. 

“ ‘And as to any considerable preferment in the 
navy, it is not to be expected, as there are so 
many gaping for it here who have interest, and he 
has none.’ ” 

George folded the letter, and handed it back to 
his mother respectfully. 


190 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


“ Forgive me, mother,” said he, “but I think 
my uncle Joseph a very ignorant man, and es- 
pecially ignorant of my prospects in life.” 

“ George !” cried his mother, reproachfully. 

George remained silent. He saw coming an 
impending conflict, the first of their lives, be- 
tween his mother and himself. 

“My brother,” said Madam Washington, after 
a pause, “ is a man of the world. He knows much 
more than I, a woman who has seen but little 
of it, and much more than a youth like you, 
George." 

“ He does not know better than my brother, who 
has been the best and kindest of brothers, who 
thought he was doing me the greatest service in 
getting me this warrant, and who, at his own ex- 
pense, prepared me for it.” 

Both mother and son spoke calmly, and even 
quietly, but two red spots burned in Madam 
Washington's face, while George felt himself 
growing whiter every moment. 

“Your brother, doubtless, meant kindly tow- 
ards you, and for that I shall be ever grateful ; 
but I never gave my consent — I shall never give 
it,” she said. 

“ I am sorry to hear you say that, mother,” an- 
swered George, presently — “ more sorry than I 
know how to say. For, although you are my dear 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


191 


and honored mother, you cannot choose my life 
for me, provided the life I choose is respectable, 
and I live honestly and like a gentleman, as I al- 
ways shall, I hope.” 

The mother and son faced each other, pale and 
determined. It struck home to Madam Wash- 
ington that she could not now clip her eaglet’s 
wings. She asked, in a low voice : 

“ Do you intend to disobey me, my son ?” 

“ Don’t force me to do it, mother !” cried 
George, losing his calmness, and becoming deep- 
ly agitated. “ I think my honor is engaged to 
my brother and Admiral Yernon, and I feel in 
my heart that I have a right to choose my own 
future course. I promise you that I will never 
discredit you ; but I cannot — I cannot obey you 
in this.” 

“You do refuse, then, my son?” said Madam 
Washington. She spoke in a low voice, and her 
beautiful eyes looked straight into George’s as if 
challenging him to resist her influence ; but 
George, although his own eyes filled with tears, 
yet answered her gently : 

“ Mother, I must.” 

Madam Washington said no more, but turned 
away from him. The boy’s heart and mind were 
in a whirl. Some involuntary power seemed 
compelling him to act as he did, without any voli- 


192 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


tion on his part. Suddenly his mother turned, 
with tears streaming down her face, and, coming 
swiftty towards him, clasped him in her arms. 

“My son, my best-loved child!” she cried, weep- 
ing. “ Do not break my heart by leaving me. I 
did not know until this moment how much I 
loved you. It is hard for a parent to plead with 
a child, but I beg, I implore you, if you have any 
regard for your mother’s peace of mind, to give 
up the sea.” And with sobs and tears, such as 
George had never before seen her shed, she clung 
to him and covered his face and hair, and even 
his hands, with kisses. 

The boy stood motionless, stunned by an out- 
break of emotion so unlike anything he had ever 
seen in his mother before. Calm, reticent, and 
undemonstrative, she had showed a Spartan firm- 
ness in her treatment of her children until this 
moment. In a flash like lightning George saw 
that it was not that foolish letter which had in- 
fluenced her, but there was a fierceness of mother 
love, all unsuspected in that deep and quiet nat- 
ure, for him, and for him alone. This trembling, 
sobbing woman, calling him all fond names, and 
saying to him, “George, I would go upon my 
knees if that would move you,” his mother! 
And the appeal overpowered him as much by its 
novelty as its power. Like her he began to 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


193 


tremble, and when she saw this she held him 
closer to her, and cried, “ My son, will you aban- 
don me, or will } T ou abandon your own will this 
once ?” 

There was a short pause, and then George 
spoke, in a voice he scarcely knew, it was so 
strange : 

£< Mother, I will give up my commission.” 


CHAPTER XII 


As soon as George had spoken he disengaged 
himself gently from his mother’s arms. She was 
still weeping, but blessing him. 

“ God will reward you, my son, for this yield- 
ing to your mother !” she cried. 

“ I don’t know, mother, whether I deserve a 
reward or not,’’ he answered, in the same strange 
voice in which he had first spoken. “ I am not 
sure whether I am doing right or not, but I 
know I could not do otherwise. I did not yield 
to your command, but to your entreaty. But let 
me go, mother.” And before she could stop him 
he was out of the room, and she heard his quick 
step up the stairs and his door locked after him. 

He tore off his uniform as if every shred of it 
burned him, put on his ordinary clothes, and then, 
sitting down on the bed, gazed blankly before 
him. 

And blank looked the life before him. He had 
suffered himself to dwell upon the thought of a 
naval or military career until it had become a 






A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


195 


part of his life. He foresaw that the same strange 
weakness on his mother’s part which kept him 
from joining the navy might keep him out of the 
army. True, if there should be war between the 
French and English in the Northwest it would be 
his duty to defend his country, and no pleadings 
could keep him back then ; but that was only 
a contingency. And, in any event, he could not 
again ask the help, in getting a commission, of 
the only persons who could serve him — his broth- 
er Laurence and Lord Fairfax — after this unfort- 
unate ending of his first attempt. And, worst of 
all, he was not sure that he was right, and he was 
very sure his mother was wrong. That of itself 
was a staggering blow. ILe had always fancied 
his mother perfect, and her weakness, her blind 
partiality for him over the rest of her children, at 
once shattered his ideal. She was a true and 
devoted mother, but in a great emergency she 
showed a tender unwisdom that seemed foreign 
to her character. George did not love her any the 
less for this, but he realized that after this he must 
think and act for himself. She had not thought 
of how far he was committed in the matter, or 
that his brother Laurence might be justly of- 
fended at his course — she only thought of the 
anguish of giving him up. It was all hard and 
inscrutable to the boy, sitting with rigid face and 


1% 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


dry eyes, gazing before him and seeing nothing. 
He did not know how long he sat there. He 
heard Betty’s light step and lighter tap upon the 
door, and she called him, softly, through the key- 
hole. 

“ Go away, dear Betty,” answered George ; “ I 
can’t see anybody just now.” 

It seemed to him days, not hours, before he 
heard the bell for dinner. Ho gathered himself 
together and went down-stairs. Betty almost 
cried out when she saw him, he was so haggard. 
His mother saw it too, and it made her heart 
ache ; but in her heart she felt that it was better 
to have him as he was than to sa } 7 good-bye to 
him forever, which she was firmly persuaded 
would be the case had he gone in the navy. Mad- 
am Washington, being naturally a woman of 
great integrity, was not at ease in her mind. She 
had not forgotten the light in which she would 
appear before Laurence Washington and Lord 
Fairfax. She read again and again that letter 
from Joseph Ball, which George had appalled her 
by calling both ignorant and foolish. She had 
been taught to think brother Joseph a monu- 
ment of wisdom ; but she was not so sure of it 
after having acted on his advice in this great 
event. 

At dinner both George and his mother were 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


197 


perfectly composed and polite. Neither the chil- 
dren nor the servants knew that anything was 

betrayed it. Bat little 
Betty’s heart was so full for George’s disappoint- 
ment that she could not eat her dinner, and tears 
dropped upon her plate. Towards the last of the 
dinner one of the little boys suddenly exclaimed : 

“ Brother, I saw you in your uniform this 
morning; are you going to wear it every day?” 

At this Betty burst into a loud sob, and, get- 
ting up from the table, rushed to George and 
threw her arms about him. George rose and led 
the weeping girl out of the room. Usually such 
an infraction of discipline and table manners 
as George and Betty leaving the table without 
permission would have been strictly prohibited. 
But their mother saw that these two young souls 
were wrought up to the keenest distress, and as 
she had gained her victory she could afford to be 
magnanimous. 

“ Betty,” said George, hurriedly, when they got 
out of the room, “ put on your hood, and let us 
go into the woods. It makes one feel better, when 
one is sad, to go into the woods.” 

The day was dull and overcast as the boy and 
girl, hand in hand, tramped across the fields to 
where the fringe of cedars formed the advance 
guard of the woodlands. George held Betty’s 


the matter until Betty 


198 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


hand very tightly in his. She understood him, at 
least. 

They said but little until they were well in 
the heart of the woods, and had sat down upon a 
fallen tree. Then George, laying his head on 
Betty’s shoulder, burst into tears, and cried as if 
his heart would break. 

No creature was ever better formed to feel for 
others than sweet little Betty. She had never 
seen George weep like that ; but she was not 
frightened or disconcerted. She only laid her 
wet cheek against George’s, and sighed so deeply 
that he knew that his burden lay as heavy on her 
heart as on his. Presently, when he had become 
more composed, Betty spoke : 

“ Brother, hard as it is, I am glad of one thing 
— nobody can say anything to you about it, after 
3 r ou have said that } r ou gave way to our mother, 
for no boy, or man either, can let any bod y in 
the world find fault with his mother.” 

“ Yes, Betty,” answered George, sadly. “ I 
will not be such a poltroon as to let any one say 
my mother has not acted right.” 

“ She meant to act right,” said Betty ; “ but — ” 
Betty paused, and the brother and sister looked 
into each other’s eyes and said no more, but 
each understood the other. 

“ Of course,” sighed Betty, “ it would have 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


199 


been the hardest thing in the world to have you 
go away ; but if you wanted to go, dear George, 
and it was best for you, I would have given you 
up, and I would have tried not to cry when you 
went away, and I would have thought of you 
every single day while you were away, and if you 
had not come home for ten years, or twenty 
years, I would have loved you just as much as 
ever.” 

George had always loved Betty dearly, but he 
felt now, at the hour of his cruelest disappoint- 
ment, what it was to have that tender sister, to 
whom he could reveal his whole heart. Much as 
he loved his brother Laurence, deeply as he re- 
vered Lord Fairfax, and with all his love and rev- 
erence for his mother, he felt obliged to keep up 
before them a manly fortitude ; but Betty was 
young and inexperienced like himself, and, be- 
cause of that, in some ways she was nearer to 
him than anybody else. 

The two sat there until late in the afternoon, 
and so quiet were they that a squirrel came bold- 
ly out of his hole and hopped past them, and a 
robin, with a weak little pretence of a song, in 
spite of the wintry weather, swung within reach 
of them. It was nearly sunset before they took 
their way homeward. George, like all boys, was 
not glib of tongue in expressing his emotions ; 


200 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


but when they got to the edge of the woods he 
kissed her, and said : 

“ Betty, I don’t know what I would have done 
if it hadn’t been for you this miserable day.” 

The little sister’s loyal heart grew almost hap- 
py at this. 

A hard task remained for George. He had to 
write to his brother Laurence and to Lord Fair- 
fax, announcing what he had done. They were 
not easy letters to write, but he carefully refrained 
from any hint of blame upon his mother. 

Madam Washington, having gained her heart’s 
desire, could not now do too much for George. 
He was already far advanced beyond Mr. Hob- 
by’s school, and his mother determined to have a 
tutor for him. Nothing was too good for him 
now ; his tutor must be a university man, with 
every qualification in family and manners, as 
well as learning. But there was no such person 
within reach, and communication in those days 
being slow and uncertain, there seemed no im- 
mediate chance of finding one. George went his 
way calmly, but with his disappointment eating 
into his heart. He studied surveying, in which 
he was already proficient, with Mr. IIobb} r ; but 
he did nothing else. Even his beloved hunting 
and shooting palled upon him. He would spend 
the day at work, having Mr. Hobby’s help in the 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


201 


afternoon, and at night lie would work out at 
home what he had done during the day. Mother 
and son never failed in courtesy and even affec- 
tion for each other — indeed, Madam Washington 
lavished affection upon him in a manner hitherto 
unknown to him, but there was a little shadow 
between them. 

Heretofore George had not escaped being lect- 
ured for his youthful shortcomings, but no fault 
was ever found with him now. Even Billy’s 
laziness was excused, and he might be as idle as 
he pleased ; like his young master, he enjoj^ed a 
complete immunity from fault-finding. This 
was not a natural or a healthy way for the moth- 
er and son to live ; and one day, when George 
walked in and laid a letter from Lord Fairfax in 
his mother’s hand, saying, simply, “I think I 
should like that, mother,” Madam Washington, 
with one sharp pang, felt that they must part — 
at least, for a while. 

The letter was brief, and had no mention of 
the warrant in the navy, by which George subtly 
understood that Lord Fairfax knew it was a 
delicate subject, and would say nothing about it. 
The earl wrote, however, that he had determined 
to have his lands across the mountains surveyed 
during the coming summer, and offered George 
for it a sum of money so large that to the boy’s 


202 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


unsophisticated mind it seemed a fortune. But 
Lord Fairfax stipulated that George should have 
a license from the State of Virginia, as his sur- 
ve} r s would no doubt often be called in question, 
and there must be a recorded proof of his effi- 
ciency. 

Madam Washington sighed deeply, yet there 
was no doubt that he must go. He would be 
sixteen within a few days, and he was already as 
developed in mind and body as a young man of 
nineteen. Her plans for his further education 
seemed impossible to realize, and it was plain 
there was but one thing to do — to let him go. 
She told him so that night, and the first gleam of 
sunshine came into his face that she had seen 
since the day after his return home. Betty’s com- 
ment was like her. 

“ If you want to go, George, I want you to go ; 
but it will be doleful at Ferry Farm without 
you.” 

George immediately made preparations for his 
examination in surveying, and, having passed it 
successfully, and got his certificate, he was ready 
to start on his journey as soon as the spring 
should open. He wrote to his brother Laurence 
stating his plan, and saying he would spend a 
night at Mount Vernon on his way. Laurence 
had shown the same consideration for George’s 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


203 


feelings that Lord Fairfax had, and, in reply to 
the letter returning the midshipman’s warrant, 
had merely said that he regretted he had not 
known of Madam Washington’s determination 
sooner. One sentence at the end touched George : 
“Your little niece is well, but she is but a frail 
child, and I have a presentiment that Mount Ver- 
non will never come to any child of mine. For 
that reason, as you will some day be master of 
this place, I would like to have you here as often 
and as long as your mother can spare you. My 
own constitution is delicate, and nothing is more 
probable than that you will have Mount Vernon 
for your own before you are of age.” 

Madam Washington made the preparations 
for George’s departure with a steady cheerful- 
ness that belied her sad heart. She herself pro- 
posed that he should take Billy along. She of- 
fered him such a considerable sum of money that 
George knew she must be depriving herself of 
many things, and refused to take it all. In every 
way there was a strong though silent purpose 
to make up to him for her one moment of weak- 
ness. George felt this, and when, on the morning 
of his departure, his mother bade him good-bye 
with a smile on her pale lips, he felt a soft- 
ening of the heart towards her that lasted 
not only during this separation but through 


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all the coming years with their tremendous 
events. 

Little Betty wept torrents of tears, protesting 
all the time — “ Dear George, I am glad for you 
to go — I don’t want you to stay — I can't help 
crying a little, though.'’ 

George held her in his arms with a full heart, 
and wished that he had words to tell her how 
much she was to him ; but Betty understood well 
enough. When the last farewells were said, and 
George was out of sight of his mother's brave 
smile and Bettv's tears, a sudden revulsion of 
feeling came to him, as it does to all healthy 
young natures. He had got to the very ex- 
tremity of his despair, and there was a strong 
reaction. He was essentially a boy of action, 
and action was now before him. Indeed, he was 
no longer a boy, but a man, with responsibilities 
upon him that seldom fall to young people of 
his years. He had his surveyor's license in his 
pocket, and upon the use he made of it might 
depend not only issues of property, but of peace 
and war; because he knew that the unsettled 
state of the frontier was the real reason why Lord 
Fairfax meant to have the wild lands in his grant 
surveyed. The day was bright, it was in the 
spring-time, and he was well mounted on a good 
horse. Bill y, riding a stout cart-horse and carry- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


205 


ing the saddle-bags, was behind him, and Rattler 
was trotting by his side. Things might be worse, 
thought George, as he struck into a canter and 
wondered that his heart was so blithe. He would 
see his brother and sister that night, and little Mil- 
dred, and in a few days more he would be again 
at Greenway with the earl and old Lance ; and 
he would have all the books he wanted to read, 
and fencing whenever he liked. He wondered 
how much he had forgotten of it; he had not 
fenced since leaving Mount Vernon at Christmas. 
But neither had he read or done anything else, 
it seemed to George, so blank was the time from 
the day he came home until then. Billy hank- 
ered after the flesh-pots of Mount Vernon, where 
things were conducted on a much grander scale 
than at the simple Ferry Farm homestead. 
George heard him chuckling to himself, and, 
turning in the saddle, asked : 

“ What pleases you so, Billy ?” 

“ Tuckey, suk,” answered Billy, promptly, “ wid 
sassages roun’ dee necks — an’ oshters an’ sp’yar- 
ribs an’ chines an’ goose, an’ all dem things dee 
black folks gits in de kitchen at Mount Vernon.” 

It was a good forty-five miles to Mount Ver- 
non, but George made it by eight o’clock that 
night. 

His brother and sister were delighted to see 


206 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


him, and little Mildred had not forgotten him. 
After a travellers supper George told them all 
his plans. He passed quickly over the giving up 
of his midshipman’s warrant, merely saying, “ My 
mother begged me not to leave her for the sea, 
and I consented. But,” he added, after a pause, 
“ it nearly broke my heart.” 

He was distressed to see his brother looking 
pale and thin, and still more so at the despond- 
ent tone Laurence took about himself. He 
would have had George go into the study, and 
there with him discuss the present state of the 
place and its future management, as if he were 
certain that one day it would be George’s ; but 
this the boy flatly refused. 

“ No, brother,” he said, “ I can only inherit 
Mount Vernon through misfortune to you and 
yours; and do you suppose I like to think 
about that ? Indeed I do not ; and I neither 
think nor care about what you do on the place, 
except that it shall be for your own satisfaction.” 

The next morning George was off, much to 
the regret of his brother and sister, and also to 
Billy, who had promised himself a regular carni- 
val in the Mount Vernon kitchen. 

The road was the same that George had taken 
nearly five months before, on his first expedition 
to Green way Court. Then it had been at the 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


207 


fall of the leaf, and now it was at the bursting 
of the spring. Already the live-oaks and pop- 
lars were showing a faint and silvery green, and 
in sheltered, sunny spots grass was sprouting. 
The watercourses were high from the melting 
of the snow, and fording them was not always 
without difficulty and even danger. At every 
mile that George travelled his mind and heart 
gained a better balance by quick degrees. He 
was sorry to be parted from his mother and 
Betty, but he was at a time of life when he must 
try his own strength, and he was the better for 
it. He stopped at the same taverns that he had 
halted at when with Lord Fairfax. Billy proved 
himself to be an excellent hostler as well as valet, 
and George did not mean to forget mentioning 
to his mother, when he should have an opportu- 
nity of sending a letter, how extremely useful 
Billy w r as. On the fourth day, being well up in 
the mountains, they came to Lord Fairfax’s 
coach-house, as it was called, but instead of stop- 
ping George pushed on to Greenway Court, much 
to Billy’s disgust, who had no taste for long jour- 
neys on traveller’s fare. On a March night, 
that, although cool, had a touch of spring in the 
air, and under a glorious moon George rode up 
to the door at Green way Court, and joyfully 
dismounted. Lord Fairfax did not know the 


208 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


exact day to expect him, but knew he would 
arrive about that time. When George's loud 
rat-tat resounded upon the great oak doors, it 
seemed the most natural thing in the world to 
have them opened by old Lance, who said, as if 
he had seen George half an hour before: 

“ Good-evening, Mr. Washington ; my lord is 
expecting you. Billy, take the horses around to 
the stable.” 

George walked in, and almost ran into the 
earl’s arms. Lord Fairfax was overjoyed to see 
him, and, although he did not say much, his 
pleasure shone in his eyes. George’s room was 
readv for him: there was a fine young half- 
thoroughbred in the stables that was waiting for 
George’s saddle and bridle to be put on him ; 
Lance had some bears’ paws for his supper when- 
ever he should arrive; there were some books 
on surveying imported from England for him. 
Ilad he been Lord Fairfax's son and heir he 
could not have been received with greater con- 
sideration. The earl could not do enough for 
him. It was : 

“Lance, is Mr. Washington’s room prepared 
for him ?” 

“ Yes, sir. It has been ready for a week.” 

“And, Lance, Mr. Washington will probably 
want you in the morning in the armory.” 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


209 


“Yes, sir; I shall be at Mr. Washington’s or- 
ders,” and a dozen other similar marks of tender 
forethought, more like a woman than a man. 
George could not but think how easy it was to 
be amiable and high-toned amid such surround- 
ings. 

As soon as supper was over George displayed 
proudly his license as surveyor, and would have 
plunged into the affair of the surveys at once, 
but Lord Fairfax gave the first intimation then 
that he did not consider George a full-fledged 
man. 

“Never mind for to-night, George. Yery 
young gentlemen like you are apt to go at 
things like a hunter at a five-barred gate, but 
you can wait awhile. Besides, you must go to 
bed early after your journey, so as to get sleep — 
a thing that growing boys cannot do without.” 

George felt several years younger at this 
speech, and blushed a little for his mannish airs, 
but the earl’s advice about going to bed was 
sound, and in five minutes after finding himself 
in the great high-post bed he was sleeping the 
sleep of healthy and active boyhood. 


CHAPTER XIII 


Some weeks were spent at Green way Court, and 
George slipped back into the same life he had 
led for so long in the autumn. Instead, how- 
ever, of reading in the evenings, Lord Fairfax 
and himself spent the time in studying rude maps 
of the region to be explored, and talking over the 
labors of the coming summer. The earl told 
George that William Fairfax had heard of the 
proposed expedition, and was so anxious to go as 
George’s assistant that his father was disposed 
to gratify him if it could be arranged. 

“ But I shall not communicate with him until 

I have talked with you, George,” said the earl, 

“for William, although a hardy youngster, and 

with some knowledge of surveying, is still but a 

lad, and there might be serious business in hand. 

However, this season's survevs are not to be far 

«/ 

from here, so that if you care for his company I 
see no reason why he should not go.” 

“ I should be very glad to have him,” replied 
George, blushing a little. “ I did a very un- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


211 


handsome thing to William Fairfax while we 
were at Mount V ernon at Christmas, and he was 
so manful about it that I think more of him than 
ever, and I believe he would be an excellent 
helper.” 

“ An unhandsome thing?” repeated the earl, in 
a tone of inquiry. 

“ Knocked him sprawling, sir, in my brother’s 
house. My brother was very much offended with 
me, and I was ashamed of myself.” 

“ But you are good friends now ?” 

“ Better than ever, sir, for William behaved as 
well as I behaved ill, and if he is willing to come 
with me I shall be glad to have him.” 

“ I shall send an express, then, to Belvoir, and 
William will be here in a few days. And now I 
have something else to propose to you. My man 
Lance is very anxious to see the new country, 
although he has not directly asked my permis- 
sion to go ; but the poor fellow has served me so 
faithfully that I feel like indulging him. Only 
a lettered man, my dear George, can stand with 
cheerfulness this solitude month after month 
and year after year as I do, and, although 
Lance is a man of great natural intelligence, he 
never read a book through in his life, so that his 
time is often heavy on his hands. I think a few 
months of mountaineering would be a godsend 


212 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


to him in his lonely life up here, and I make no 
doubt at all that you would be glad to have him 
with you.” 

“ Glad, sir ! I would be more glad than I can 
say. But what is to become of you without 
Lance ?” 

“ I can get on tolerably well without him for 
a time,” replied the earl, smiling. And the unspo- 
ken thought in his mind was, “And I shall feel 
sure that there is a watchful and responsible per- 
son in company with the two youngsters I shall 
send out.” 

“ And Billy, of course, will go with me,” said 
George, meditatively. “ Why, my lord, it will 
be a pleasure jaunt.” 

“ Get all the happiness you can out of it, 
George; I have no fear that you will neglect 
your work.” 

Within two weeks from that dav William 
Fairfax had arrived, and the party was ready to 
start. It was then the first of April, and not 
much field-work could be done until Ma}L But 
Lord Fairfax found it impossible to hold in his 
young proteges. As for Lance, he was the most 
eager of the lot to get away. Cut off from as- 
sociation with his own class, nothing but his de- 
votion to Lord Fairfax made the isolated life at 
Green way Court endurable to him ; and this pros- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


213 


pect of variety in his routine, where, to a cer- 
tain degree, he could resume his campaigning 
habits, was a fascinating change to him. 

The earl, with a smile, and a sigh at the loss 
of George and William’s cheerful company and 
Lance’s faithful attendance, saw them set forth 
at sunrise on an April morning. George, mount- 
ed on the new half-bred horse that Lord Fairfax 
had given him, rode side by side with William 
Fairfax, who was equally well mounted. He car- 
ried the most precious of his surveying instru- 
ments and two little books, closely printed, which 
the earl had given him the night before. One 
was a miniature copy of Shakespeare’s plays, and 
the other a small volume of Addison’s works. 

Behind them, on one of the stout cobs common- 
ly used by the outriders on Lord Fairfax’s jour- 
neys to lower Virginia, rode Lance. 

The old soldier was beaming with delight. He 
neither knew nor cared anything about surveying, 
but he was off for what he called a campaign, in 
company with two youths full of life and fire, 
and it made him feel like a colt. He had charge 
of the commissary, and a led-horse was loaded 
with the tent, the blankets, and such provisions 
as they could carry, although they expected their 
guns and fishing-rods to supply their appetites. 
Behind them all rode Billy on an old cart-horse. 


214 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


Billy was very miserable. He had no taste for 
campaigning, and preferred the fare of a well- 
stocked kitchen to such as one could get out of 
woods and streams. George had been so disgust- 
ed with Billy’s want of enterprise and devotion 
to the kitchen rations that he had sternly threat- 
ened to leave the boy behind, at which Billy had 
howled vociferously, and had got George’s prom- 
ise not to leave him. Nevertheless, a domestic 
life suited Billy much better than an adventurous 
one. 

What a merry party they were when they set 
off ! Lord Fairfax stood on the porch watching 
them as long as they were in sight, and when, 
on reaching a little knoll, both boys turned and 
waved their hats at him, he felt a very lonely 
old man, and went sadly into the quiet house. 

The party travelled on over fairly good moun- 
tain roads all that day, and at night made their 
first camp. They were within striking distance 
of a good tavern, but it was not in boy nature to 
seek comfort and civilization when camping out 
was possible. 

George realized the treasure he had in Lance 
when, in an inconceivably short time, the tent 
was set up and supper was being prepared. 
The horses were taken care of by George and 
William, who got from a lonely settlers clearing 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


215 


a feed of corn for them. Meanwhile, with a 
kettle, a pan, and a gridiron, Lance had prepared 
a supper tit for a king, so the hungry boys de- 
clared. Billy had actually been made to go to 
work, and to move when he was spoken to. The 
first thing he w r as told to do by Lance was to 
make a fire. Billy was about to take his time 
to consider the proposition when Lance, wiho 
was used to military obedience, instantly drew a 
ramrod from one of the guns, and gave Billy a 
smart thwack across his knuckles with it. Billy 
swelled with wrath. Lance he esteemed to be 
a “ po’ white,” and, as such, by no means author- 
ized to make him stir. 

“ Look a-heah, man,” said Billy, loftily, “ you 
ain’ got no business a-hittin’ Marse George’s 
nigger.” 

“ I haven’t, eh ?” was Lance’s rejoinder, giving 
Billy another whack. “ Do you make that fire, 
you rapscallion, or you get no supper. And make 
it quick, d’ye hear ? Oh, I wish I had had you in 
the Low Countries, under my old drill-sergeant ! 
You would have got what Paddy gave the drum !” 

Billy, thus admonished, concluded it would be 
Detter to mind, and although he felt sure that 
“ Marse George ” would give him his supper, yet he 
was not at present in high favor with that young 
gentleman, and did not want to take any risks 


216 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


in the matter. However, he did not really exert 
himself until Lance said, severely, “ I have a great 
mind to ask Mr. Washington to send you back to 
Greenway Court. It is not too far.” 

At that Billy suddenly became very industri- 
ous. How George, on the other side of the tent 
currying his horse, heard the whole affair, and 
when they were called to supper he threw out a 
hint that his servitor might be sent back ; which 
threat, then and forever after, acted on Billy like 
a galvanic battery. 

George and William thought, as they sat by 
the fire in the woods eating their rude but pal- 
atable supper, that they were the luckiest creat- 
ures in the world. They were exhilarated rather 
than fatigued by their day’s work. A roaring 
fire cast a red glare among the rocks and trees, 
and warmed the keen, cold air of the spring night 
in the mountains. Within their tent were piles 
of cedar boughs for beds, and blankets to cover 
them. 

William Fairfax had never heard any of Lance’s 
interesting stories, although George had told him 
of them. When supper was over, and the boys 
had an hour before turning in, George induced 
Lance to tell of some of his adventures in the 
wars of the Spanish Succession. They were 
deeply interesting, for Lance was a daring char- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


217 


acter, and had seen many strange vicissitudes. 
Billy and Battler, who were not very much inter- 
ested in the proceedings, dropped asleep early, 
and George, throwing a blanket over Billy, let 
him lie and snore before the fire until it was time 
to take to the tent. After a while Lance said : 

“ It was the Duke of Marlborough’s way to 
have all the lights out early ; and I think, Mr. 
Washington, if we want to make an early start, 
w r e had better turn in now.” 

George and William, nothing loath, betook 
themselves to their beds of boughs within the 
tent. Lance preferred to lie just in the door- 
way, the flap being left up for air. The boys 
noticed that he very carefully took off his shoes 
and washed his feet in a pail of ice-cold water 
brought from a spring near by. 

“ Why do you do that, Lance ?” asked George, 
who thought it rather severe treatment. 

“ Because that’s the way to keep your feet in 
order, sir, and to keep from taking cold in a 
campaign ; and I recommend you and Mr. Fairfax 
to try it for a regular thing,” answered Lance. 

Within two days they reached the point where 
they must leave their horses and really begin 
their walk. They struck now into a wilderness, 
full of the most sublime scenery, and with a 
purity of air and a wild beauty of its own that 


218 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


would appeal to the most sluggish imagination. 
George had found William Fairfax to be a first- 
rate camping companion, and he proved to be an 
equally good assistant in surveying. George was 
not only an accurate but a very rapid surveyor, 
and William was equal to every demand made 
upon him. Although they carried their guns 
along when at work, they shot but little game, 
leaving that to Lance, and the trapping of birds 
and small animals to Bilty, who was always will- 
ing to forage for his dinner. They met a few 
Indians occasionally. Many of the Indians had 
never seen surveying instruments, and thought 
them to be something miraculous. 

Lance was a genius in the way of making a 
camp comfortable. Although all of his expe- 
riences had been under entirelv different circum- 

«/ 

stances, in an old and settled country with a 
flat surface, he was practical enough to trans- 
mute his knowledge to suit other conditions, 
lie made no pretence of assisting in the field- 
work, but when George and William would come 
back to camp in the evenings, after a long day’s 
tramp on the mountains, Lance would always be 
ready with a good supper, a bed of pine or cedar 
branches, and an endless store of tales of life in 
other days and other places. In the absence of 
books, except the two volumes given George 



BY DAYLIGHT GEORGE WAS IN THE SADDLE 
























“they struck row into the wilderness 




A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


219 


by Lord Fairfax, these story-tellings became a 
great resource to the two young fellows, and 
were established as a regular thing. Although 
Lance had been only a private soldier, and was 
not an educated man, he had natural military 
talents, and when they would talk about possi- 
bilities of war with the French upon the frontier, 
which was then looked upon as inevitable, Lance 
clearly foresaw what actually happened years 
afterwards. The military instinct was always 
active in George, and it developed marvellous- 
ly. For recreation he and Lance devised many 
campaigns against the French and Indians, and 
proved, on paper at least, how easy it would be to 
capture every French fort and block-house from 
the Alleghanies to the Great Lakes. George 
had a provincial’s enthusiastic confidence in 
regular troops, and was amazed to find Lance 
insisting that their usefulness in a campaign in 
the wilderness was doubtful. 

“ I tell you, Mr. Washington, I have seen a 
little of the Indian fighting, and you give a few 
of those red devils firelocks, with a handful of 
French to direct them, and there is not a general 
in England who would know how to fight them. 
And the worst of it is that the English despise 
the Indians, and you could not make an English- 
man believe that he could not lick two French- 


220 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


men until he has been licked. An English gen- 
eral would want roads and bridges and an ar- 
tillery-train and a dozen other things that these 
savages never heard of, while all they want is a 
firelock and a tree, and they can pick off their 
man every time.” 

“ Then do you think the English will not be 
able to hold this part of the country ?” asked 
George. 

“With the militia — yes, sir. Your provincial 
troops know how to fight Indians, and can get 
through a wilderness without making a highway 
like a Roman road. But, mark my words, Mr. 
Washington, many a brave fellow has got to lay 
down his life before the English learn how to 
fight in the woods.” 

These prophetic words came back vividly to 
George before many years had passed. 

The summer came on apace. Never had George 
seen anything more beautiful than the outburst 
of tree and leaf and flower among these lonely 
peaks. The out-door life agreed with him per- 
fectly, as it did with William Fairfax. They 
worked hard all the week, always leaving camp 
before sunrise, and generally not returning until 
after sunset. Lance always had a good fire and 
a capital supper waiting for them. lie fashioned 
rude but comfortable seats and tables out of logs, 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


221 


and his impromptu out-door kitchen was a model 
of neatness and order. lie was an accomplished 
laundress, but, after instructing Billy in the 
art of washing and drying clothes, turned that 
branch of their housekeeping over to this young 
person, who worked steadily, if unwillingly. On 
rainy days the boys remained in their tent, with 
two large tarpaulins thrown over it to keep out 
the water. George then wrote in his journal 
and read one of his precious books, William 
reading the other. On Sunda} 7 s they took turns 
in the morning, after the work of the camp was 
over, in reading the service of the Church of 
England to a congregation composed of Lance, 
Billy, and Battler — the two latter generally go- 
ing to sleep in the first five minutes. 

Besides his regular work and having an eye 
to military operations in that region, George and 
William both had an opportunity to study the 
animals and birds the forests and mountains 
harbored. For the first time they had a chance 
of closely watching the beaver, and admiring 
this great engineer among beasts. They were 
lost in admiration at the dam constructed by 
him, which the most scientific engineering could 
not surpass. The brown bear, a good-natured 
creature that was always frightened at the sight 
of a human being, was common to them, and 


222 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


deer enough to keep their larder supplied were 
found. Lance was a skilful fisherman, and the 
mountain trout was on their daily bill of fare. 
The only thing they feared were the snakes, but 
as they always wore long and stout boots, they 
escaped being bitten while at their work, and 
Lance and Billy kept a close watch on the camp, 
examining the tent and ground every night be- 
fore they slept. It was so cold at night, how- 
ever, that they were in but little danger from 
reptiles then, for, no matter how warm the day, 
by nightfall a fire was pleasant. 

And so days became weeks, and weeks became 
months. George had begun his work with a 
fierce disappointment gnawing at his heart, and 
thought he should never live to see the day when 
he would not regret that he was not in the navy. 
But at sixteen, with health and work, despair 
cannot long abide. Before he knew it the pain 
grew less, and insensibly he found himself be- 
coming happier. But this was not accomplished 
by sitting down and brooding over his troubles; 
it was done b } 7 hard work, by a powerful will, 
and the fixed determination to make the best of 
things. Before the summer was over he could 
think, without a pang, of that cruel blow he had 
received the day after he reached Ferry Farm. 

Lord Fairfax thought he had not given George 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


228 


i 

too much time when he named the 1st of Oc- 
tober as the date the party would probably re- 
turn to Green way Court. But on a glorious day 
in early September, when Lord Fairfax came in 
from riding over his principality in land, he saw 
a young figure that he well knew speeding down 
the road to meet him, and recognized George. 
The boy was much grown, and gave full promise 
of the six feet three that he attained in his man- 
hood. His figure was admirably developed, his 
fair complexion bronzed, and his bright, expres- 
sive eyes were brilliant with health and spirits. 

Lord Fairfax’s pale and worn face lighted up 
with pleasure, and he dismounted on seeing 
George. Arm in arm the two walked up to the 
great, quaint house — the man, old before his 
time, and never losing the sad and wearied look 
that showed he had not found life all roses, and 
the splendid youth glowing with health and 
hope and brightness. Lord Fairfax asked many 
questions about the work, and George was 
equally full of questions about lowland affairs. 
Of these Lord Fairfax knew little, but he told 
George there were a number of letters for him 
in a desk in the library. George was all eager- 
ness to get them, as he knew he should find let- 
ters from his mother and Betty and his brother 
Laurence. 


224 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


As they neared the house they passed within 
view of the kitchen. Billy had not been off his 
horse’s back half an hour, but he was already 
seated in the kitchen door, and between his 
knees was a huge kettle, in which were some 
bacon and beans. In one hand he held a tre- 
mendous hoe-cake, which he shared with Rat- 
tler, who was sitting on his haunches, with an 
expression of profound satisfaction very like 
that which irradiated Billy’s dusky features. 
Neither George nor Lord Fairfax could forbear 
laughing, and Billy grinned appreciatively at 
them. 

But on reading his letters a little later in the 
library George’s face lost its merry smile. His 
mother and Betty were quite well only ten days 
before — which was late news for that day — but 
his little playmate Mildred, at Mount Yernon, 
was fading fast. One of Madam Washington’s 
letters, dated about three weeks before, said : 

“ I have just come from a visit of eight days 
to Mount Yernon ; your brother and sister 
are fairly well, although Laurence will never be 
of a robust constitution. But the little girl, I 
see, is not to be spared us long. She is now 
nearly three years old — older than any of Lau- 
rence’s other children have lived to be — but 
there is a blight upon this dear little innocent, 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


225 


and I doubt whether she will not be a flower in 
God’s garden by Christmas - time — greatly to 
her profit, but to the everlasting grief of her 
sorrowing parents.” 

This letter made George feel as if he would 
like that very moment to have his horse saddled 
and to start for Mount Yernon. But he felt 
that with the great interests with which he had 
been trusted by Lord Fairfax it would not be 
right to go without giving an account of his 
work. He was sitting sadly enough at the libra- 
ry table, reading his mother’s letter, when Lord 
Fairfax entered. 

“ You have bad news, George,” said he, after 
one glance at the boy’s troubled face. 

“Very bad, sir,” replied George, sadly. “My 
brother’s only living child, a dear little girl, is 
very ill, I am afraid. My mother writes me she 
is fading fast. My poor brother and sister love 
her so much — she is the only child that has been 
spared them. Three others have all died before 
they were a year old.” 

“Then you want to go to Mount Yernon as 
soon as possible,” said the earl, reading the un- 
spoken wish in George’s heart. 

“ Oh, sir, I do want to go ; but I think I ought 
to stay here for some days, to show you what I 
have done.” 


15 


226 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


“ One night will be enough, if you will leave 
your surveys and papers with me ; and perhaps 
I may myself go down to Mount Yernon later 
on, when the little one is either better on earth 
or eternally well in heaven.” 

George looked at him with eloquent eyes. 

“ If you will be so kind as to let me go, I will 
come back just as soon—” George stopped; he 
could say no more. 

Although just come from a long journey, so 
vigorous and robust was George that he began 
at once exhibiting his surveys and papers. They 
were astonishingly clear, both in statement and 
in execution ; and Lord Fairfax saw that he had 
no common surveyor, but a truly great and com- 
prehensive mind in his young protege. George 
asked that William Fairfax might be sent for; 
and, when he came, told Lord Fairfax how help- 
ful William had been to him. 

“And you did not have a single falling out 
while you were together?” asked Lord Fairfax, 
with a faint smile. At which both boys an- 
swered at the same time: “JNo, sir!” — Will- 
iam with a laugh and George with a deep 
blush. 

All that day, and until twelve o’clock that 
night, George and Lord Fairfax worked on the 
surveys, and at midnight Lord Fairfax under- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


227 


stood everything as well as if a week had been 
spent in explaining it to him. 

When daylight came next morning George 
was up and dressed, his horse and Billy's saddled 
and before the door, with Lord Fairfax, Lance, 
and William Fairfax to bid him good-bye. 

“ Good-bye, my lord,” said George. “ I hope 
we shall soon meet at Mount Vernon, and that 
the little girl may get well, after all. Good-bye, 
William and Lance. You have been the best of 
messmates ; and if my work should be satisfac- 
tory, it will be due as much to you as to me.” 

Three days’ hard travel brought him to Mount 
Vernon on a warm September day. As he 
neared the house his heart sank at the desolate 
air of the place. The doors and windows were 
all open, and the negroes with solemn faces stood 
about and talked in subdued tones. George rode 
rapidly up to the house, and, dismounting, walked 
in. Uncle Manuel, the venerable old butler, met 
him at the door, and answered the anxious in- 
quiry in George’s eyes. 

“De little missis, she k’yarn lars’ long. She 
on de way to de bosom o’ de Lamb, w’har tecks 
keer o’ little chillen,” he said, solemnly. 

George understood only too well. He went 
up-stairs to the nursery. The child, white and 
scarcely breathing, her yellow curls damp on her 


228 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


forehead, lay in her black mammy’s arms. The 
father and mother, clasped in each other's arms, 
watched with agonized eyes as the little life 
ebbed away. The old mammy was singing soft- 
ly a negro hymn as she gently rocked the dying 
child 

“ ‘ De little lambs in Jesus’ breas’ 

He hoi’ ’em d’yar and giv’ ’em res’ ; 

He teck ’em by dee little hands. 

An’ lead ’em th’u de pleasant lands.’” 

As George stood by her, with tears running 
down his face, the old mammy spoke to the 
child. “ Honey,’' said she, “ heah Marse George ; 
doan’ you know Marse George, dat use ter ride 
you on he shoulder, an' make de funny little rab- 
bits on de wall by candlelight ?” 

The child opened her eyes and a look of recog- 
nition came into them. George knelt down b} T 
her. She tried to put her little arms around his 
neck, and he gently placed them there. The 
mother and father knelt by her too. 

“ My darling,” said the mother, trembling, 
“ don’t you know papa and mamma too ?” 

The little girl smiled, and whispered: “ Yes — 
papa and mamma and Uncle George and my 
own dear mammy.” 

The next moment her eyes closed. Presently 
George asked, brokenly : 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


229 


“ Is she asleep ?” 

“ Yes,” calmly answered the devoted old black 
woman, straightening out the little body ; “ she 
’sleep heah, but she gwr wake up in heaben, wid 
her little han' in Jesus Chris’s ; an’ lie goin’ teck 
keer of her twell we all gits d’yar. An 1 po" ole 
black mammy will see her honey chile oncet 
mo’.” 


CHAPTER XIV 


The next few weeks worked a great and seri- 
ous change in George. It was the first time he 
had seen death since he was ten years old, when 
his father died. That had made a great impres- 
sion on him at the time, but the feelings of a 
child of ten and a youth of sixteen are very dif- 
ferent. He had loved little Mildred dearlv, and 
the child's death was a deep sorrow to him. The 
grief of his brother and sister was piteous. As 
the case often is, the father was the more over- 
whelmed, and the poor mother had to stifle her 
own grief to help her husband. George could 
not but love and admire his sister the more 
when he saw her calm fortitude, and how, in- 
spired by love for her husband, she bore bravely 

the loss of her only child. Both Madam Wash- 

«/ 

ington and Betty had come to Mount Vernon 
the day of little Mildred’s death. Madam Wash- 
ington was obliged to return, after a few days, 
to her younger children, but George and Betty 
remained. 

“ For George is the heir now,” said Laurence, 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


231 


with a sad smile, “ and he must learn to manage 
what will one day be his own.” 

“ Oh, brother,” burst out George, with strange 
violence, “ do you believe I wanted this place at 
the price of your child’s life? I would give it 
all, twenty times over, to have her back !” 

“If I had thought you coveted it I should 
never have made you my heir,” was Laurence’s 
reply to this. 

Never was there a kinder or more helpful 
soul than Betty, now a tall and beautiful girl of 
fourteen. Mrs. Washington’s health was much 
shattered by this last and greatest sorrow, and 
Laurence, who had always been of a delicate 
constitution, became every day more feeble. 
George attended him assiduously, rarely leaving 
him. He persuaded his brother to ride out and 
take some interest in the place. He read to Lau- 
rence of evenings in the library, and tried to in- 
terest him with accounts of the new regions in 
which the younger brother had spent so many 
months. Nothing could ever make Laurence 
Washington a happy man again, but by George’s 
efforts he was saved from falling into utter mel- 
ancholy. 

Mrs. Washington’s sorrow, though as great, 
was better controlled. She always managed to 
wear a cheerful look before her husband, and al- 


232 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


though she was not able to accompany him in 
his out-door life, she was with him every moment 
he spent in-doors. Betty was to her as great a 
comfort as George was to Laurence Washing- 
ton. Betty had so tender a heart and so excel- 
lent an understanding that she was as helpful as 
a woman twice her age, and these two young 
creatures, George and Betty, were mainstays and 
comforts at an age when most young creatures 
rely wholly on other people. 

All day they were engaged, each in gentle and 
untiring efforts to make life a little brighter to 
their brother and sister. But after the older 
persons had retired every night George and 
Betty would sit up over the fire in the library 
and talk for hours. Their conversations were 
not always sad — it is not natural for the young 
to dwell in sadness — but they were generally se- 
rious. One night Betty said : 

“ Don’t you think, George, we ought to write 
to our mother and ask her to let us stay over 
Christmas with brother Laurence and sister 
Anne? You remember how gav it was last 
Christmas, and how glad we were to be here? 
Now, I think when they are in great trouble, we 
ought to be as Avilling to sta} r with them as when 
they were happy and bright and could make us 
enjoy ourselves.” 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


233 


“ Betty,” answered George, in admiration, 
“ why did I not think of this ? I see it is just 
what we ought to do.” 

“ Because,” said Betty, promptly, “ women are 
much more thoughtful than men, and girls are 
much more thoughtful than boys.” 

George did not dispute this, as he had been 
taught never to call in question any woman’s 
goodness, and in his heart he believed them to 
be all as good as his mother and Betty and his 
sister Anne. The lesson of chivalry towards all 
women had been early and deeply taught him, 
and it was a part of the fibre of his being. 
u And shall I write and ask our mother to let us 
stay ?” asked George, humbly. 

“No,” replied Betty, with a slight accent of 
scorn ; “ you might not ask it in the right way. 
I shall write myself.” 

Now, although Bett} r always assumed, when 
alone with George, this superior tone, yet when 
they were in company nothing could exceed her 
submissiveness towards this darling brother, and 
it was then George’s turn to treat her with con- 
descending kindness. But each thought this 
arrangement perfectly natural and mutually sat- 
isfactory. Whenever they had a discussion, 
though, Betty always carried the day, for she 
was really a girl of remarkably fine sense and 


234 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


much more glib and persuasive than George, 
who could always be silenced, if not convinced, 
by Betty’s ready tongue and quick wit. The 
next day the letter was written to Madam Wash- 
ington, and within a week a reply was received 
giving permission for the brother and sister to 
remain over Christmas. 

Mrs. Washington, ever thoughtful of others, 
made the same preparation for the holiday on 
the estate as usual, so that, however sad the house 
might be, the servants should have their share of 
jollity. But the tie between a kind master and 
mistress and their slaves was one of great affec- 
tion, and especially were the white children ob- 
jects of affection to the black people. Therefore, 
although the usual Christmas holiday was given, 
with all the extra allowances and indulgences, it 
was a quiet season at Mount Yernon. On Christ- 
mas Day, instead of the merry party in carriages 
going to Pohick Church, and an equally merry 
one going on board the Bellona to service, the 
coach only took Mr. and Mrs. Washington and 
Betty to church, George riding with them, for 
he hated a coach, and never drove when he could 
ride. 

Meanwhile William Fairfax had returned to 
Belvoir, where there were Christmas festivities. 
George and Betty were asked, and, although 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


235 


their brother and sister urged them to go, neither 
felt really inclined for gayety. They were not 
of those natures forever in pursuit of pleasure, 
although none could enjoy it more when it came 
rightly ; and a native good sense and tender 
sympathy with others, which found no expres- 
sion in words, made them both feel that they 
should omit no mark of respect in a case where 
they were so directly benefited as by the little 
girl’s death. Laurence Washington and his 
wife could not admire too much George’s deli- 
cacy about Mount Yernon. While he made use 
of the servants and the horses and carriages 
and boats, and everything else on the place, with 
the freedom of a son rather than a younger 
brother, no word or look escaped him that indi- 
cated he was the heir. 

William Fairfax was a great resource to both 
George and Betty. Living a whole summer to- 
gether as he and George had done, it was inevi- 
table that they should become either very much 
attached or very antagonistic — and luckily they 
had become devotedly fond of one another. Will- 
iam was preparing to enter William and Mary 
College the following year, and George bitterly 
regretted that he would not have so pleasant a 
companion for his next summer’s work. Very 
different were his circumstances now, the ac- 


236 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


knowledged heir of a ricli brother. But George 
determined to act as if no such thing existed, 
and to carry out his plan of finishing the sur- 
veys on Lord Fairfax’s lands. The universal 
expectation of war with France, whenever the 
French and English outposts should get suffi- 
ciently near, made him sure that he would one 
day bear arms ; but he prepared for whatever 
the future might hold for him by doing his best 
in the present. 

In February he returned to Ferry Farm for 
a while, but he had only been there a month 
when Laurence Washington wrote, begging that 
he would return, and saying that he himself felt 
utterly unequal to carrying on the affairs of a 
great estate in his present wretched state of 
health and spirits. Madam Washington made 
no objection to George’s return to Mount Ver- 
non. She realized the full extent of Laurence’s 
kind intentions towards George, and that his 
presence was absolutely necessary to keep the 
machinery of a large plantation going. 

In March, therefore, George was again at 
Mount Vernon, practically in charge of the 
place. There was ploughing and ditching and 
draining and clearing and planting to be done, 
and, with a force of a hundred and fifty field- 
hands and eighteen hundred acres of arable land, 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


237 


it was no small undertaking. By daylight 
George was in the saddle, going first to the stables 
to see the stock fed, then to the kennels, and, 
after breakfast, riding over the whole estate. It 
kept him in the open air all day, and he began 
to like not only the life but the responsibility. 
He had all the privileges of the master, Laurence 
leaving everything to his judgment, and his sis- 
ter was glad to have it so. This continued until 
June, when, the crops being well advanced and 
Lord Fairfax having written urgently for him, 
he turned affairs over to the overseer until the 
autumn, and prepared to resume his work as a 
surveyor. 

He paid a hurried visit to Ferry Farm, where, 
although he was painfully missed, things went 
on perfectly well, for no better farmer than 
Madam Washington could be found in the col- 
ony of Virginia. Indeed, George’s success at 
Mount Vernon was due in great measure to ap- 
plying the sound system in vogue at Ferry Farm 
to the larger interests at Mount Vernon. Mad- 
am Washington’s pride in his responsible posi- 
tion at Mount Vernon, and his still greater re- 
sponsibility as a State surveyor for Lord Fair- 
fax, did much to reconcile her to George's long 
absences. Deep in her heart she cherished a 
pride in her eldest son that was one of the mas- 


238 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


ter-passions of her life. The extreme respect 
that George paid her filled her with more satis- 
faction than the attentions of all the rest of the 
world. Once only had they clashed — in the 
matter of the midshipman’s warrant. She had 
won a nominal victory by an appeal to his feel- 
ings, but she had no mind after that for any 
more battles of the sort. So with tears, but 
with encouraging smiles, she saw him set forth, 
in the summer of 1749, upon his second year’s 
work in the wilderness. 


CHAPTER XV 

George’s second summer’s work was less like 
a pleasure expedition than his first had been. 
He spent only a few days at Green way Court, 
and then started off, not with a boy companion 
and old Lance, but with two hardy mountaineers, 
Gist and Davidson. Gist was a tall, rawboned 
fellow, perfectly taciturn, but of an amazing 
physical strength and of hardy courage. Da- 
vidson was small but alert, and, in contradis- 
tinction to Gist’s taciturnity, was an inveterate 
talker. He had spent many years among the 
Indians, and, besides knowing them thoroughly, 
he was master of most of their dialects. Lord 
Fairfax had these tw r o men in his eye for months 
as the best companions for George. He was to 
penetrate much farther into the wilderness and 
to come in frequent contact with the Indians, 
and Lord Fairfax wished and meant that he 
should be well equipped for it. Billy, of course, 
went with him, and Rattler went with Billy, for 
it had now got to be an accepted thing that 


240 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


Billy would not be separated from bis master. 
A strange instance of Billy’s determination in 
this respect showed itself as soon as the second 
expedition was arranged. Both George and 
Lord Fairfax doubted the wisdom of taking the 
black boy along. When Billy heard of this he 
said to George, quite calmly : 

“ Ef you leave me ‘hine you, Marse George, 
you ain’ fin' no Billy when you gits back.” 

“How is that?” asked George. 

“ ’Kase I gwi’ starve myself. I ain’ gwi’ 
teck nuttin to eat, nor a drap o’ water — I jes 
gwi’ starve twell I die.” 

George laughed at this, knowing Billy to be 
an unconscionable eater ordinarily, and did not 
for a moment take him in earnest. Billy, how- 
ever, for some reason understood that he was to 
be left at Greenway Court. George noticed two 
or three days afterwards that the boy seemed ill, 
and so weak he could hardly move. lie asked 
about it, and Billy’s reply was very prompt. 

“ I ain’ eat nuttin sence I knowed } T ou warn' 
gwi’ teck me wid }^ou, Marse George.” 

“ But,” said George, in amazement, “ I never 
said so.” 

“ Is you gwi’ teck me ?” persisted Billy. 

“I don’t know,” replied George, puzzled by 
the boy. “ But is it possible you have not 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


241 


eaten anything since the day you asked me 
about it ?” 

“ Flaw, suh,” said Billy, coolly. “ An’ I ain’ 
gwi’ eat twell you say I kin go wid you. I 
done th'ow my vittles to de horgs ev’ry day 
sence den — an’ I gwi’ keep it up, ef you doan’ 
lem me go.” 

George was thunderstruck. Here was a case 
for discipline, and he was a natural disciplina- 
rian. But where Billy was concerned George 
had a very weak spot, and he had an uncom- 
fortable feeling that the simple, ignorant, de- 
voted fellow might actually do as he threatened. 
Therefore he promised, in a very little while, 
that Billy should not be separated from him — 
at which Billy got up strength enough to cut 
the pigeon- wing, and then made a bee-line for 
the kitchen. George followed him, and nearly 
had to knock him down to keep him from eat- 
ing himself ill. Lord Fairfax could not refrain 
from laughing when George, gravely and with 
much ingenuity in putting the best face on 
Billy’s conduct, told of it, and George felt rath- 
er hurt at the earl’s laughing ; he did not like 
to be laughed at, and people always laughed at 
him about Billy, which vexed him exceedingly. 

On this summer's journey he first became 

really familiar with the Indians over the moun- 
16 


242 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


tains. lie came across his old acquaintance 
Black Bear, who showed a most un - Indian- 
like gratitude. He joined the camp, rather to 
the alarm of Gist and Davidson, who, as David- 
son said, might wake up any morning and find 
themselves scalped. George, however, permitted 
Black Bear to remain, and the Indian’s subse- 
quent conduct showed the wisdom of this. He 
told that his father, Tanacharison, the powerful 
chief, was now inclined to the English, and 
claimed the credit of converting him. He prom- 
ised George he would be safe whenever he was 
anywhere within the influence of Tanacharison. 

George devoted his leisure to the study of the 
Indian dialects, and from Black Bear himself he 
learqed much of the ways and manners and prej- 
udices of the Indians. He spent months in ar- 
duous work, and when, on the first of October, 
he returned to Green way he had proved himself 
to be the most capable surveyor Lord Fairfax 
had ever had. 

The earl, in planning for the next year’s work, 
asked George, one day, “ But why, my dear 
George, do you lead this laborious life, when you 
are the heir of a magnificent property ?” 

George’s face flushed a little. 

“ One does not relish very much, sir, the idea 
of coming into property by the death of a per- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


243 


son one loves very much, as I love my brother 
Laurence. And I would rather order my life as 
if there were no such thing in the world as in- 
heriting Mount Yernon. As it is, I have every 
privilege there that any one could possibly have, 
and I hope my brother will live as long as I do 
to enjoy it.” 

“ That is the natural way that a high-minded 
young man would regard it ; and if your broth- 
er had not been sure of your disinterestedness 
you may be sure he would never have made you 
his heir. Grasping people seldom, with all their 
efforts, secure anything from others.” 

These two yearly visits of George’s to Green- 
way Court — one on his way to the mountains, 
and the other and longer one when he returned — 
were the bright times of the year to the earl. This 
autumn he determined to accompany George 
back to Mount Yernon, and also to visit the 
Fairfaxes at Belvoir. The great coach was fur- 
bished up for the journey, the outriders’ liveries 
were brought forth from camphor- chests, and 
the four roans were harnessed up. George fol- 
lowed the same plan as on his first journe}^ with 
Lord Fairfax two years before — driving with 
him in the coach the first stage of the day, and 
riding the last stage. 

On reaching Mount Yernon, George was dis- 


244 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


tressed to see bis brother looking thinner and 
feebler than ever, and Mrs. Washington was 
plainly anxious about him. Both were delighted 
to have him back, as Laurence was quite unable 
to attend to the vast duties of such a place, and 
Mrs. Washington had no one but an overseer to 
rely on. The society of Lord Fairfax, who was 
peculiarly charming and comforting to persons 
of a grave temperament, did much for Laurence 
Washington’s spirits. Lord Fairfax had himself 
suffered, and he realized the futility of wealth 
and position to console the great sorrows of life. 

George spent only a day or two at Mount 
Vernon, and then made straight for Ferry Farm. 
His brothers, now three fine, tall lads, with their 
tutor, were full of admiration for the handsome, 
delightful brother, of whom they saw little, but 
whose coming was always the most joyful event 
at Ferry Farm. 

George was now nearing his nineteenth birth- 
day, and the graceful, well-made youth had be- 
come one of the handsomest men of his day. 
As Betty stood by him on the hearth-rug the 
night of his arrival she looked at him gravely 
for a long time, and then said : 

“ George, you are not at all ugly. Indeed, I 
think you are nearly as handsome as brother 
Laurence before he was ill.” 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


245 


“ Betty,” replied George, looking at her criti- 
cally, “let me return the compliment. You are 
not unhandsome, but never, never, if you live to 
be a hundred years old, will you be half so beau- 
tiful as our mother.” 

Madam Washington, standing by them, her 
slender figure overtopped by their fair young 
heads, blushed like a girl at this, and told them 
severely, as a mother should, that beauty counted 
for but little, either in this world or the next. 
But in the bottom of her heart the beauty of 
her two eldest children gave her a keen delight. 

Betty was indeed a girl of whom any mother 
might be proud. Like George, she was tall and 
fair, and had the same indescribable air of dis- 
tinction. She was now promoted to the dignity 
of a hoop and a satin petticoat, and her beauti- 
ful bright hair was done up in a knot becoming a 
young lady of sixteen. Although an only daugh- 
ter, she was quite unspoiled, and her life was 
a pleasant round of duties and pleasures, with 
which her mother and her three younger brothers, 
and, above all, her dear George, were all connect- 
ed. The great events in her life were her visits 
to Mount Vernon. Her brother and sister there 
regarded her rather as a daughter than a sister, 
and for her young sake the old house resumed a 
little of its former cheerfulness. 


246 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


George spent several days at Ferry Farm on 
that visit, and was very happy. His coming was 
made a kind of holiday. The servants were de- 
lighted to see him, and as for Billy, the remark- 
able series of adventures through which he al- 
leged he had passed made him quite a hero, and 
caused Uncle Jasper and Aunt Sukey to regard 
him with pride, as the flower of their flock, in- 
stead of the black sheep. 

Billy was as fond of eating and as opposed to 
working as ever, but he now gave himself the 
airs of a man of the world, supported by his va- 
rious journeys to Mount Yernon and Greenway 
Court, and the possession of a scarlet satin waist- 
coat of George’s, which inspired great respect 
among the other negroes when he put it on. 
Billy loved to harangue a listening circle of black 
faces on the glories of Mount Yernon, of which 
“ Marse George ” was one day to be king, and 
Billy was to be prime-minister. 

“You niggers, livin’ heah on dis heah little 
truck - patch, ain’ got no notion o’ Mount Yer- 
non,” said Billy, loftily, one night, to an audience 
of the house servants in the “ charmber.” “ De 
house is as big as de co’t- house in Fredericks- 
burg, an’ when me an’ Marse George gits it we 
gwi’ buil’ a gre't piece to it. An’ de bosses — 
Lord, deni bosses! You ain’ never see so many 


NEVER WILL YOU BE HALF SO BEAUTIFUL AS OUR MOTHER 









A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


247 


hosses sence you been born. An’ cle coaches — 
y’all thinks de Earl o’ F’yarfax got a mighty fine 
coach — well, de ve’y oldes’ an’ po’es’ coach at 
Mount Yernon is a heap finer ’n dat ar one o’ 
Marse F’yarfax. An’ when me an’ Marse George 
gits Mount Yernon, arter Marse Laurence done 
daid, we all is gwine ter have a coach, lined wid 
white satin, same like the Earl o’ F’yarfax’s bes’ 
weskit, an’ de harness o’ red morocky, an’ solid 
gol’ tires to de wheels. You heah me, niggers? 
And Marse George, he say — ” 

“ You are the most unconscionable liar I ever 
knew !” shouted George, in a passion, suddenly 
appearing behind Billy ; “ and if ever I hear of 
your talking about what will happen at Mount 
Yernon, or even daring to say that it may be 
mine, I will make you sorry for it, as I am alive.” 

George was in such a rage that he picked up a 
hair-brush off the chest of drawers, and shied it 
at Billy, who dodged, and the brush went to smash 
on the brick hearth. At this the unregenerate 
Billy burst into a subdued guffaw, and, looking 
into George’s angry eyes, chuckled : 

“Hi, Marse George, you done bus’ yo’ ma’s 
h’yar-bresh !” Which showed how much impres- 
sion “ Marse George’s ” wrath made on Billy. 


CHAPTER XVI 


Christmas at Mount Vernon, although it could 
never again be the gay season it had been, was 
yet cheerful. The presence of Lord Fairfax and 
George, of Madam Washington and Betty, re- 
vived the spirits of the master and mistress. 
William Fairfax, now a handsome young man of 
eighteen, and the same mild, manly, good-natured 
fellow, was home from Williamsburg for the hol- 
idays. George had never been to Williamsburg, 
where there was a viceregal court, and where 
everything was conducted upon a scale adapted 
to a representative of royalty. He was much 
impressed by William’s description, and the two 
made many plans for a holiday together, the next 
wdnter, in the capital. 

“ And we will attend the governor's levee — but 
you must not be too much of a republican, 
George, for the governor exacts viceregal re- 
spect — and the assemblies in the great Apollo 
Boom at the Raleigh Tavern, and the lectures at 
the college by learned men from England and 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


249 


Scotland. Ah, George, how you will enjoy it !” 
cried William. 

Lord Fairfax, hearing the young men talk, felt 
a desire to revisit Williamsburg, a place where he 
had spent some happy days, and soon after this 
conversation, when William had already returned 
to college, he said, one day : 

“ I think, George, if your brother can spare 
you towards the spring, I should like to have you 
visit Williamsburg with me. It is now twelve 
years since I was there in the administration of 
my Lord Botetourt. He exacted every mark of 
respect that would have been paid to the king 
himself. I well remember his going in state to 
open the House of Burgesses, as the king opens 
Parliament. He rode in a gilt coach, given him 
by the king himself, drawn by eight milk-white 
horses — a very fine show ; but for all their love 
of finery and display themselves, the Virginians 
are very jealous of any on the part of their 
rulers, and many gentlemen who drove coaches- 
and-four themselves complained bitterly of the 
governor.” 

George was charmed at the prospect, and took 
the first opportunity of broaching the subject to 
Laurence. 

“ I think it would be very advantageous to you 
to see something of a viceregal court, and I will 


250 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


see that you have the means to make a good ap- 
pearance,” was Laurence’s kind repty. 

“ Thank you, brother,” said George, gratefully. 
“ I will have things on the place in such order 
that everything will go on as if I were here; 
and as I shall come back for some weeks before 
returning to the mountains, I can see whether 
my orders have been carried out or not.” 

Another summer’s work would finish all the 
surveys Lord Fairfax wished, and it was under- 
stood that at the <^nd of that time George was 
to live permanently at Mount Yernon in charge 
of the estate. 

Madam Washington was delighted at the idea 
of George’s advent at the provincial court under 
such auspices, and Betty danced for joy, and im- 
mediately plunged into a discussion of George’s 
wardrobe for the great event. 

“Timothy Jones, the tailor in Alexandria, 
has some fine green cloth, out of which he could 
make you a surtout trimmed with silver, and I 
saw myself an elegant piece of scarlet velvet 
from which a mantle to wear to court might be 
made. And you shall have my best Mechlin 
lace for your cravat. Ah, George, how I long to 
see you in your fine clothes !” 

“ I should think, Betty,” replied George, smil- 
ing, “you would be more concerned about how 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


251 


I will conduct myself with these great people. 
You know, sometimes I lose my speech entire- 
ly, and become very awkward ; and sometimes 
I become abstracted in company, and nobody’s 
manners are perfect at eighteen.” 

“ Dear George,” cried Betty, throwing her 
arms around his neck, “ I think of your clothes 
because that is all that I need think about with 
you. In every other way you are sure to do us 
credit,” which made George feel that Betty was 
the most good-natured creature alive. 

“ I wish you were going,” said he, presently. 

“ I wish so, too,” replied Betty. “ But when 
brother Laurence gets well sister Anne has 
promised to take me, and my mother has said I 
may go,” for both George and Betty, with the 
optimism of youth, thought it quite certain that 
their brother would one day be well. 

The first day of February the start was made. 
The grand equipage set forth, with the earl and 
George on the back seat of the coach and Lance 
on the box. Billy rode George's horse, and was 
in ecstasies at the prospect of such an expedi- 
tion. On the second day, in the evening, the 
coach rolled into Williamsburg. It was a lovely 
February evening, and the watchman was going 
about lighting lanterns hung to tall poles at the 
street corners. George had chosen to make the 


252 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


last stage with the earl, and was deeply inter- 
ested in all he saw. The town was as straggling 
as Alexandria, or as Fredericksburg, but there 
was that unmistakable air of a capital which the 
presence of the seat of government always gives. 
As they drove rapidly, and with great clat- 
ter and noise, down Duke of Gloucester Street, 
George noticed many gentlemen in both naval 
and military uniforms, and others in the unpow- 
dered wig of the scholar, which last he inferred 
w r ere professors and tutors at the college. Of 
collegians there were not a few, and George 
noticed they always appeared in gangs, and 
seemed to regard themselves as quite aloof from 
other persons and slightly superior to them. As 
the coach drove quickly through the Palace 
Green, with the palace on one hand and the col- 
lege on the other, both were brilliantly lighted. 
A couple of sentries in red coats marched up and 
down before the palace — a long, rambling brick 
building with its two generous "wings, and its 
great court-yard with fine iron gates. On top 
was a cupola, which was only lighted up on gala 
nights. On both sides of the palace were spa- 
cious gardens, with a straight canal, bordered 
with cedars, cut in the stiff, artificial manner of 
the time, and with small summer-houses, in the 
form of Greek temples, made of stucco. A 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


253 


coach was driving out and another was driving 
in, while an officer, evidently an aide-de-camp, 
picked his way along the gravelled path that led 
to the side where the offices were. Opposite 
the palace towered the plain but substantial brick 
buildings of William and Mary College, and a 
crowd of students were going into the common 
hall for supper. It all seemed very grand to 
George’s eyes, and when they alighted at the 
Raleigh Tavern, the tavern-keeper, wearing silk 
stockings and carrying two silver candlesticks, 
came out to meet them, and ushered them into 
a handsome private room, ornamented over the 
mantel by a print of his majesty, King George 
the Second. The tavern-keeper was not by any 
means like the sturdy citizens who kept houses 
of entertainment between Fredericksburg and 
the mountains. He “ my lorded ” the earl at 
every turn, and was evidently used to fine com- 
pany. He was happy to say that he was then 
entertaining Sir John Peyton, of Gloucester, 
who had come to Williamsburg for the winter 
season, and Colonel B} T rd, of Westover. Also, the 
Honorable John Tyler, marshal of the colony, 
was attending the governor’s council upon mat- 
ters of importance, and was occupying the sec- 
ond-best rooms in the tavern — my lord having 
the best, of course, according to his rank. The 


254 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


earl was a little wearied with all this, but bore 
with it civilly until the tavern-keeper bowed 
himself out, when William Fairfax burst in, 
delighted to see them. William was neither so 
tall nor so handsome as George, but he was a 
fine young fellow, overflowing with health and 
spirits. 

“ The governor heard you were coming, sir,'’ 
cried William, “ and stopped his coach in the 
street yesterday to ask me when }^ou would ar- 
rive. I told him you had probably started, if 
my advices were correct, and that you would be 
accompanied by Mr. George Washington, brother 
of Mr. Laurence Washington, now of Mount 
Vernon, but late of the royal army. He said he 
much desired to meet Mr. Washington’s brother 
— for to tell you the truth, my lord, the governor 
loves rank and wealth in his provincial subjects — 
and, meaning to speak well for George, I told 
him a great deal of Mr. Laurence Washington's 
lands and other wealth, and he smiled, or, rather, 
gaped, just like a great sheepshead at a bait.” 

“ William, you should be respectful of digni- 
taries,” was the earl's reply, although he smiled, 
while George laughed outright at William's art- 
ful working upon the governor's weaknesses. 

As soon as supper was over came a thunder- 
ing knock upon the door, and the host ushered in 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


255 


Sir John Peyton, of Gloucester, a colonial dandy, 
whose pride it was that he had the handsomest 
foot and leg in the colony. Sir John was very 
elegantly dressed, and carried upon his left arm 
a muff, which effeminate fashion he had brought 
from England on his last visit. 

“ Ah, my Lord Fairfax ! Most happy to meet 
you,” cried Sir John, affectedly. “’Tis most un- 
kind of you to pitch your tent in the wilderness, 
instead of gracing the viceregal court, where 
gentlemen of rank and wealth are sadly needed.” 

“ Having experienced the hollowness of a regal 
court, Sir John, I can withstand all the attrac- 
tions of any other,” was Lord Fairfax’s quiet 
and rather sarcastic reply. 

Sir John, not at all disconcerted, helped him- 
self with a jewelled hand from a gold snuffbox, 
and then, leaning against the mantel, put his 
hands in his muff. 

“By all the loves of Venus, my lord, you 
and your young friend Mr. Washington should 
see some of the beautiful young ladies here. 
There is Mistress Martha Dandridge— odd’s life, 
if I were not pledged to die a bachelor I should 
sue for that fair maid’s hand ; and Lady Chris- 
tine Blair — born Stewart, who met and married 
Mr. Blair in Edinburgh — a dull, psalm -singing 
town it is. Lady Christine, having great beauty, 


256 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


illumines the college where her husband is 
professor. And the lovely, the divine Evelyn 
Byrd, and Mistress Tyler, who is one of those 
French Huguenots, and lias a most bewitching 
French accent — all ladies worthy of your lord- 
ship's admiration.” 

“ No doubt,” replied the earl, gravely, but in- 
wardly tickled at Sir John’s ineffable impudence. 
“ They would but slightly value the admiration 
of an ancient recluse like myself, and would pre- 
fer my young friends, Mr. Washington and Mr. 
Fairfax.” 

Sir John, quite unabashed, now turned to the 
two young men, who had difficulty in keeping 
their faces straight when they looked at him. 

“ Really, Mr. Washington, you must get a 
muff if you wish to be comfortable in this 
cursed climate. I never knew comfort till I 
got one in England, on the recommendation 
of Mr. Horace Walpole, who has the divinest 
taste in muffs and china I ever saw.” 

“ I am afraid I cannot find one of a size for 
my hand,” answered George, gravely, holding 
out a well-shaped but undeniably large hand. 

After much more talk about Mr. Horace Wal- 
pole, the lovely Miss Berrys, and the company 
of comedians daily expected from London, Sir 
John took his leave, promising to see them at 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


257 


the governor’s levee next day. As soon as the 
door closed upon him Lord Fairfax turned to 
William and said, testily, “I hoped I had left all 
such popinjays as Sir John Peyton at court in 
England, but here I find the breed flourishing.” 

“ Sir John is not half so absurd as he looks, 
sir,” answered William, laughing. “ He is as brave 
as a lion; and when on his last voyage home 
there was fire in the ship’s cargo, I hear he was 
the coolest man on board, and bv his conceits and 
quips and jests in the face of danger kept off a 
panic. And he is honorable and truthful, and he 
really has much sense.” 

“ Then,” cried the earl, “ he does all he can to 
disguise it !” 

Their next visitors were Colonel Byrd, of 
Westover, and Mr. Tyler, marshal of the colony, 
who ranked next the governor, and Mr. Kan- 
dolpli, Speaker of the House of Burgesses. The 
earl received these gentlemen with marked re- 
spect, placed chairs for them himself, and entered 
into a long and interesting conversation with 
them on the state of the colony. Both George 
and William remained modestly silent, as became 
young men of their age, and listened attentively. 
It was agreed among them all that war with 
the French was practically certain. The colonies 
were thoroughly aroused, and each of the visitors 

17 


258 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


gave it as his opinion that the colonies were 
willing to settle the question themselves without 
aid from the home government. 

“ And when the conflict comes,’" remarked 
Colonel Byrd, turning to the two young men, 
“ it is to young gentlemen such as these that we 
must look for our safety, because, you may be 
sure, if the French capture our outposts they 
will not be satisfied until they overrun our whole 
lowland country, and they must be checked at 
the mountains if they are to be checked at all.” 

“ My } r oung friend, Mr. Washington, knows all 
about matters on the frontier, as he has surveyed 
my lands across the Alleghanies for two sum- 
mers, and he is quite as familiar with the temper 
of the Indians as with the face of the country,” 
remarked the earl. 

This at once made George an object of interest 
to them all, and he was closely questioned. He 
answered everything that was asked him with 
such intelligence and pith that his new acquaint- 
ances formed a high idea of his sense. He often 
referred to William Fairfax, who had been with 
him the first summer, and William made also a 
fine impression. They sat until midnight, talk- 
ing, and Lance had to renew the fire and the 
candles twice before the company parted. 

Next morning William came betimes and burst 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


259 


into George’s room while that young gentleman 
was still in bed. 

“ Get up, man !” cried William, shaking him. 
“ Here you lie sleeping like a log when you 
ought to be having your breakfast and making 
ready to see the town.” 

George needed no second invitation, and in a 
very short time was making play with his break- 
fast in the sitting-room reserved for Lord Fair- 
fax. The earl was there himself, and the. delight- 
ful anticipations of George and William, which 
were fully shared by Lance and Billy, brought a 
smile to his usually grave face. 

Lance was simply beaming. A number of his 
old regiment were enrolled among the governor’s 
body-guard, and the sight of a redcoat did him, 
as he said, “a world of good.” As for Billy, he 
had reached the state of nil admirari , and was 
determined to be surprised at nothing. On the 
contrary, when the tavern servants had assumed 
that he was a country servant, Billy had complete- 
ly turned the tables on them. Nothing in the 
Raleigh Tavern was good enough for him. He 
pished and pshawed in the most approved style, 
treated Colonel Byrd’s and Marshal Tyler’s ser- 
vants with infinite scorn, and declined to be pat- 
ronized even by Sir John Peyton’s own man, 
who had been to London. He called them all 


260 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


“ cornfiel’ han’s,” and, as the way generally is, he 
was taken at his own valuation, and reigned 
monarch of all he surveyed in the kitchen, where 
he gave more trouble than Lord Fairfax himself. 
However, one person could bring Billy down 
with neatness and despatch. This was Lance, 
who, although belonging to a class of white peo- 
ple that Bill } 7 despised, yet was capable of re- 
porting him to “ Marse George,” so Bill } 7 was 
warv when Lance was around. 

At three o’clock the coach came, and the earl 
and George set forth with outriders to attend 
the governor’s levee. It was the first time 
George had ever seen the earl in court -dress, 
lie wore a splendid suit of plum-colored satin, 
with ruby and diamond shoebuckles, with his 
diamond -liilted sword, and a powdered wig. 
George, too, was very elegantly dressed, and as 
they drove up to the palace, amid a crowd of 
coaches and chaises of all sorts, and dismounted, 
there were not two such distinguished -looking 
persons there. George felt decidedly flurried, 
although he had ample self-possession to dis- 
guise it. 

They were met by the governor's guard in the 
great entrance - hall, who passed them on to an 
anteroom, where half a dozen lackeys in gorgeous 
liveries bowed to the ground before them. A 


TUB GOVERNOR’S LEVEE 












A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


261 


great pair of folding-doors led into the audience- 
chamber, and at a signal from within the doors 
were thrown wide, and they entered. 

The room was large but low, and had on 
each side a row of mullioned windows. It was 
crowded with company, but a lane was at once 
made for the earl and George, who advanced tow- 
ards a dais covered with scarlet cloth at one end 
of the room, where Governor Dinwiddie stood, in 
a splendid court-dress ; for the governors of Vir- 
ginia assumed to be viceroys, and everything at 
the provincial court was copied, as far as possi- 
ble, from the same thing at the Court of St. 
James. Ranged round the dais were the wife 
and daughters of the governor with several ladies- 
in-waiting, also in court-dresses with trains. 

As the earl and George made their rever- 
ences they attracted much attention ; and when 
George stood back, silent and awaiting his turn 
while the governor conversed with the earl, 
there was a murmur of admiration for him. He 
was so manly, so graceful, his figure was set off 
with so incomparable an air of elegance, that 
other men appeared commonplace beside him. 
He seemed from his ease and grace to have 
spent his life at courts, while, in truth, he had 
never seen anything half so fine before. 

The governor, having finished his conversation 


262 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


with the earl, motioned to George, who advanced 
as the earl backed off, it being inadmissible to 
turn one’s back on the governor. 

The first question asked by Governor Din- 
widdie was: 

“My Lord Fairfax tells me, Mr. Washington, 
that you have explored much in the North west,” 

“ I have, your excellency.” 

“ I should very much like at your leisure to 
have an account of affairs in that region/’ 

“ Your excellency may command me.” 

“ And I shall meanwhile have pleasure in pre- 
senting you to Madam Dinwiddie, and my daugh- 
ters Mistress Eleanor and Mistress Katharine.” 

Madam Dinwiddie, a comely dame, and the two 
young ladies courtesied low to the handsome 
young man presented to them, and Madam Din- 
widdie said : 

“I hope, Mr. Washington, that we may see 
you at the ball to-night.” 

“ I have promised myself that honor, madam,” 
replied George. 

With the earl he then withdrew to the back 
of the hall, where they found many acquaint- 
ances, old to the earl but new to George; and 
no man or woman who saw George that day 
but was impressed with him as a youth of whom 
great things might be expected. 




CHAPTER XVII 

Very splendid was the ball at the palace that 
night, and very splendid to George’s provincial 
eyes were the assemblies in the great Apollo 
Eoom at the Kaleigh, where the wits and beaux 
and belles of the colonial court assembled. Sir 
J ohn Peyton was not the only dandy to be met 
with there, although by far the most entertain- 
ing. There were many handsome and imposing 
matrons, but George saw none that his mother 
could not outshine in dignity and grace; and 
many beautiful girls, but none more charming 
than Betty. As communication with his home 
was easy and frequent, he could write long, 
descriptive letters to Ferry Farm as well as to 
Mount Vernon. Betty became so infatuated 
with George’s accounts of the fine people and 
gay doings at Williamsburg that she wrote 
George : “ I wish, dear George, you would not 
write me any more about the routs and assem- 
blies at Williamsburg, for your poor sister’s head 
is so full of junkets and capers and the like that 


264 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


she attends to her duties very ill, and drops 
stitches in her knitting, which brings her many 
reproofs, and plays nothing but jigs on the harp- 
sichord, instead of those noble compositions of 
Mr. Ilandel, of which our mother is so fond.” 

George laughed when he read this. He knew, 
no matter how much Betty’s little head might 
be filled with gayeties, she never forgot to do 
her whole duty, and had always time for a kind 
act or an affectionate word to others. But 
there were more than balls and routs and gov- 
ernor’s levees in this visit. George had the 
opportunity of knowing men prominent in colo- 
nial matters — statesmen, scholars, lawyers, men 
of affairs — and Lord Fairfax, ever on the alert 
for his favorite's advancement, lost no chance of 
bringing him to the attention of those in power. 

Among the persons they met were many offi- 
cers of the governor’s suite, as well as those at- 
tached to the ships at Yorktown. George’s pas- 
sion for a militar}^ life had never died, or even 
languished; but by the exertion of a powerful 
will he had kept it in abeyance until the times 
were ripe. Already were Governor Dinwiddie 
and his council preparing a scheme of defence 
for the frontier, and Lord Fairfax, with other 
leading men in the colony, were invited to meet 
the governor and council to discuss these affairs. 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


265 


After attending one of these meetings the earl, 
on coming back to his lodgings, said : 

“ George, after our conference broke up I 
talked with the governor concerning you and 
your future, and he promised me, if the plan is 
carried out of dividing the colony into districts 
with an inspector-general with the rank of major 
for each, that you shall have a commission — 
that is, if you have not given up your wish for a 
military life.” 

As Lord Fairfax spoke a deep red dyed 
George’s face. 

“ Thank you, sir,” he said. “ I never have given 
up, I never can give up, my wish for a military 
life ; and although I did not accept the warrant I 
was given in the navy, it almost broke my heart. 
But fighting for my country is another thing; 
and if the governor calls on me for my services 
it would certainly be my duty to respond — and I 
will.” 

After four delightful weeks in Williamsburg 
they returned to Mount Vernon; and George, 
following his plan for two years past, divided 
his time between Mount Vernon and Ferry Farm 
until April, when he again started for Green- 
wav Court, where Lord Fairfax had preceded 
him. Again he started for the frontier with Gist 
and Davidson, and again he repeated the expe- 


266 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


riences of the former year almost without the 
slightest variation. But on his return in Sep- 
tember to Green way Court a melancholy letter 
from Laurence Washington awaited him. The 
doctors had declared a sea- voyage the only thing 
that would restore Laurence’s health ; and passage 
for Barbadoes had been engaged in the Spright- 
ly Jane , a commodious merchantman, sailing be- 
tween Alexandria and the West Indies. Lau- 
rence wrote, saying that George must accompany 
him, otherwise he would not go, to suffer and die, 
perhaps, among strangers. 

Two hours after receiving this letter George 
was on his way to Mount Vernon. The earl, 
ever kind, assured him that Gist and Davidson, 
both highly intelligent men, could give him all 
the information necessary, together with George’s 
papers, and, furnished with the best horse in the 
stables at Green way Court, George set out with 
a heavy heart. lie travelled night and day, and 
reached Mount Vernon a week before the very 
earliest that lie was expected. Ilis brother’s pale 
and emaciated countenance, his sisters anxiety, 
cut George to the heart. All the preparations for 
sailing were made, and the Sprightly Jane only 
waited a fair wind to trip her anchor. George 
took time to spend one day at Ferry Farm. 
Madam Washington was a woman of great forti- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


267 


tude except in one particular — she trembled at 
the idea of danger to this best-beloved son ; but 
she made no objection to the voyage, which she 
saw that George considered not only his duty 
but his pleasure to make to oblige the best of 
brothers. But Betty had fortitude even in part- 
ing with him. As George rode back through 
the night to Mount Yernon he could not recall a 
single instance in connection with himself that 
Betty had ever once considered herself or her 
love for him or the solace of his society; always, 
her first and only thought was for his credit. 

“ Dear Betty,” thought George, as his horse 
took the road steadily through the darkness, “ I 
believe you would inspire the veriest poltroon 
that walks with courage to do his duty.” 

And Betty was so very pretty and winning 
and coquettish, and had troops of young gentle- 
men to admire her, at whom George scowled 
darkly and thought Betty entirely too young for 
such things. But Betty thought differently, and 
rated George soundly for his overbearing ways 
in that respect. For she was not the least afraid 
of him, and could talk him down with the great- 
est spirit and emphasis at any time, George being 
a little in awe of Betty’s nimble tongue. 

Late in September Laurence Washington, 
with George and his faithful body-servant Peter, 


268 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


sailed for Barbadoes. The voyage lasted five 
weeks, and was very tedious. It did more to 
cure George of his still smouldering passion for 
a sea life than he had thought possible. To a 
young man accustomed to the boundless forests 
the confinement was irksome. lie was used to 
pursue his plans regardless of weather, and the 
lying motionless for days in a dead and depress- 
ing calm chafed him inexpressibly. Laurence, 
who bore patiently all the discomforts and de- 
lays of their position, could not forbear a wan 
smile when George, coming down one day to 
his cabin, burst forth : 

“ Brother, you were right to prefer the army 
to the navy for me. At least, let me be where 
if I walk ten miles I shall be ten miles ad- 
vanced on my way. I have walked ten miles 
around this vessel, and I am just where I start- 
ed.” 

On a beautiful autumn morning, under a daz- 
zling sun, they landed at Barbadoes. The gov- 
ernor of the island, hearing that the sick gentle- 
man had once been an officer in the British army, 
immediately called at their temporary lodgings 
and offered every kindness in his power. He ad- 
vised Laurence to take a house in the country 
near the sea, and where the air was good. That 
afternoon they drove out to the house recom- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


269 


mended by the governor, and in a few days were 
comfortably established there. 

At first Laurence improved much. He received 
every attention, and took pleasure in the society 
of the officers of the garrison, who found two 
polished and educated strangers a great resource 
in their monotonous lives. So anxious was one 
of them — Colonel Clarke — to have them to din- 
ner that he very unwisely invited them without 
mentioning that a member of his family was just 
recovering from the small-pox. 

They knew nothing of it until their return 
home, when both of them were naturally indig- 
nant ; and George had reason to be, for within nine 
days he was seized with a well-marked case of 
the terrible disease. In anticipation of it he had 
made every arrangement, and, having engaged an 
old Barbadian negro who had had small-pox for 
a nurse, he shut himself up to fight the disease. 

His powerful constitution triumphed over it, 
and in three weeks he was well. But never, in 
all his life, did he forget the sufferings of those 
dreadful weeks. Utterly unused to illness, he 
endured agonies of restlessness, and was like a 
caged lion in his wrath and furious impatience. 
The old Barbadian, who had nursed many small- 
pox patients, made him laugh, while in one of 
his worst moods, by saying, gravely : 


270 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


“ Barbadian nuss small-pox folks forty year. 
Ain’t neber see no patient so bad like Massa 
Washington.” 

A fear haunted him that sometimes made him 
smile grimly, but, nevertheless, gave him some 
anxious moments. The idea of being horribly 
disfigured for life was bitter to him. He saw no 
one but the old Barbadian, and felt afraid to ask 
him ; and as he said nothing about the marks of 
the disease, there was room to suspect they were 
bad. George had been able to sit up several 
days before he dared look in the glass. At last 
one day, nerving himself, he walked steadily to 
the mirror and looked at himself, expecting to 
see a vision of horror. To his amazement and 
deep relief there was not a single permanent 
mark. His skin was red, his eyes were hollow 
and sunken, and he was not by any means the 
handsome young man who had landed on the 
island four weeks before, but he was unmarked. 
He felt a deep thankfulness in his heart when he 
was thoroughly recovered, though he was dis- 
tressed to find that his brother grew daily weaker. 

Christmas amid waving palmettos and under 
a tropical sky was dreary to the two brothers, 
and soon after it became plain that the climate 
was doing Laurence no good. One night, calling 
George to him, he said : 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


271 


“ George, I have determined to leave this isl- 
and, and, with Peter, go to Bermuda. But I 
am homesick and heartsick for those I love, 
therefore I have determined to send you back 
to the colony for your sister Anne, to bring her 
to me. If I am compelled to be an exile, I will, 
at least, have the comfort of her society, and I 
do not think it right, at your age, to keep you 
forever tied to a sick man’s chair.” 

George answered, with tears in his eyes : 

“ Whatever you wish, brother, shall be done.” 

It was found that a vessel was sailing for the 
Potomac in January, and on her, with a heart 
heavier than when he came, George embarked 
the same day that his brother sailed for Ber- 
muda. 

Storms, instead of calms, delayed this return 
voyage, and it was late in February before 
George reached Mount Yernon. He tried to 
make the best of Laurence’s condition in de- 
scribing it to his sister, but Mrs. Washington, 
with a sad smile, stopped him. 

“ I know all that your kind heart, George, 
would make you say ; but I know, also, that my 
husband is very, very ill, and when I go to him 
now it will be never to leave him again.” 

The Sprightly Jane was to make another voy- 
age in March, and it was intended that George 


272 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


and his sister should sail on her ; but she was 
delayed below Mount Vernon for two weeks, 
waiting for a wind. One morning late in March, 
George, looking out of the window on rising to 
see if there were any chance of getting off that 
day, felt a strong wind from the northwest ; but 
as soon as his eyes fell on the river he saw a 
frigate at anchor that had evidently come in 
during the night. And while watching her he 
saw the captain’s gig shove off with two figures 
in it that wonderfully resembled his brother Lau- 
rence and his faithful Peter. George jumped 
into his clothes, and ran down-stairs and to the 
shore to make certain, and there in the boat, 
half supported by his servant, lay Laurence, 
pale and ill beyond description, but with a hap- 
py light in his weary, suffering eyes. In a few 
minutes Mrs. Washington came fly T ing down, 
and, with clasped hands and tears streaming 
down her cheeks, awaited her husband on the 
end of the little wharf. The negroes flocked 
after her, and shouts and cries resounded of, 
“ Howdy, Marse Laurence ! Bless de Lord, you 
done come ! H i ! yonder is dat ar’ Peter ! Lordy, 
Peter !” 

This jo} T ous welcome, the presence of faces 
dear and familiar, the sight of home, was almost 
too much happiness for the poor invalid. George 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


273 


literally carried Laurence in his strong young 
arms up to the house, while his wife clung to his 
hand, the old black mammy hung over him, 
blessing “ de Lam’ ” for letting him return to 
them, and the negroes yah-yahed with delight. 

“ I could not stay away any longer,” said 
Laurence, “and when the ship came to Bermuda, 
and the kind captain saw how hard it was for 
me to stay, to die among strangers, he invited 
me to return with him as his guest. I thought 
that you, Anne, and George might already have 
started for Bermuda ; but, thanks to the good 
God, I find you here.” 

All those who loved Laurence Washington 
saw that day that his end was near, and within 
three months, with the calmness of the Christian 
soldier, he gave up his life. 

One gloomy September day, just a year from 
the time he had set forth with his brother on 
that dreary voyage, George realized that, at last, 
he was master of Mount Vernon, and the real- 
ization was among the most painful moments of 
his life. He returned to the place from Bel voir, 
the home of his sister’s father, where he had left 
her. In vain he had ‘pleaded with her to con- 
tinue at Mount Vernon, for Laurence in his will 

had given it to her during her lifetime. But, 
18 


274 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


gentle and submissive in all else, Anne Wash- 
ington would not and could not return to the 
home of her brief married happiness and the 
spot connected with the long series of crushing 
griefs that had befallen her. 

To all of George’s pleadings she had an- 
swered : 

“ No, George. Anywhere on earth to me is 
better than Mount Yernon. I understand what 
you feel, and have not spoken — that you do not 
wish to appear to be master while I am living. 
But you must. I have no fear that you will not 
give me my share and more of what comes from 
the estate ; but I would give it all up rather than 
go back. father’s house is the least painful 
place to me now.” 

There was no moving her, and at last she was 
permitted to have her own way. 

The servants all crowded around him, and the 
old mammy, who was promoted to be housekeep- 
er, wanted him to take the rooms that had once 
been his brother’s, but George would not, and 
had his belongings placed in the little room over- 
looking the river which had been his from his 
boyhood. This much disgusted Billy, who thought 
the master of Mount Yernon quite too modest. 
He spent the autumn there, varied by occasional 
visits to Ferry Farm and his sister at Bel voir. 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


275 


He worked hard, for he regarded himself as 
merely his sister’s steward, and he determined 
never to make her regret either his brother’s or 
her own generosity to him. He never thought 
Mount Vernon could be so dreary to him. Will- 
iam Fairfax, who was then graduated from Will- 
iam and Mary College, came over to see him often, 
but George had not the heart to return even 
William’s visits, so it was all on one side. His 
mother and Betty came to visit him, but Madam 
Washington had upon her hands three growing 
lads, the eldest a tall youth of seventeen, and 
with the vast cares and responsibilities of the 
mistress of a plantation in those days she could 
not be absent for long. The only time in which 
there was any real brightness was once when 
Betty came over and stayed a whole month with 
him. George’s affections, like his passions, were 
rooted in the fibre of his being, and he felt his 
brother’s death with a depth of sorrow that only 
those who knew him well could understand. 

At Christmas he gave all the negroes their 
usual privileges and presents, but closed the 
house and went to Ferry Farm. In the holi- 
day time his coming gave the greatest joy, and 
the cloud upon him began to lift a little. 

Meanwhile he had received his commission as 
major and inspector-general of the forces in his 


276 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


district from Governor Dinwiddie, and he en- 
tered with enthusiasm into his work. He at- 
tended the general musters diligently at Alex- 
andria, and used all his influence in promoting 
enlistments in the militia, lie was then nine- 
teen years old — the youngest major in the colo- 
nial service. 

He was in constant receipt of letters from 
Lord Fairfax, giving him news of • affairs on 
the frontier, which were assuming a menacing 
aspect. In one of these letters Lord Fairfax 
wrote : “ The policy of the English has always 
been to keep on friendty terms with the Six Na- 
tions, and the good-will of these great and pow- 
erful tribes is essential in the coming conflict. 
But they have been tampered with by the French, 
and the great chief lately sent me this message: 
‘ Where are the Indian lands, anyway ? For the 
French claim all on one side of the Ohio and the 
English claim all on the other . 1 B} r which you 
will see, my dear George, that in diplomacy, as 
in war, you will find these chiefs no fools. Our 
honorable governor means well, but I think he 
will wait until a few men, and perhaps women, 
are scalped before taking any decisive measures. 
I need not say I long to see you. Let not an- 
other year pass without } r our coming to Green- 
way Court . 11 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


277 


All during the summer George kept up an ac- 
tive correspondence with the earl, who had spe- 
cial means of finding out the truth. In the early 
autumn he received a very pressing message from 
the governor, requiring his presence at Williams- 
burg. George set off immediately, with Billy, 
as usual, in charge of his saddle-bags. These 
sudden journeys, in which George could ride 
tirelessly night and day, very much disgusted 
Billy, who, as a man, was quite as fond of his 
ease as when a boy, but he was obliged to start 
on short notice. 

They arrived at Williamsburg in the evening, 
and George immediately sent Billy to the palace 
with a letter notifying the governor of his ar- 
rival. In a very little while a letter came back 
from Governor Dinwiddle, asking Major Wash- 
ington’s presence at the palace at his very ear- 
liest convenience. 

George had held his commission as major for 
more than a year, and at twenty-one military 
titles have a captivating sound. So Major Wash- 
ington, as soon as he had got his supper, changed 
his travelling-suit, and, preceded by Billy with 
a lantern, picked his way through the muddy 
streets to the palace. The governor was sitting 
in his closet, as his private room was called in 
those times, with Colonel Byrd and Colonel Step- 


278 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


toe, his colonial secretary, when the door opened 
and Major Washington was announced. 

George’s appearance, always striking, was 
more so from the handsome mourning -suit he 
still wore, although his brother had been dead 
more than a year. It showed off his blond 
beauty wonderfully well. His features had be- 
come more marked as he grew older, and al- 
though his face lacked the regular beauty of his 
father’s, who had been thought the handsomest 
man of his time, there was a piercing expression, 
an indescribable look of dignity and intelligence 
in George’s countenance, which marked him in 
every company. 

The governor, who was a fussy but well-mean- 
ing man, began, as soon as the formal greetings 
were over : “ Major Washington, I have work in 
hand for you. I am told by my Lord Fairfax 
and others that you are the fittest person in the 
colony for the expedition I have in hand. It re- 
quires the discretion of an old man, but it also 
requires the hardiness and strength of a young 
man; and you see, therefore, what a burden I 
lay upon you.” 

George’s face turned quite pale at these words. 
“ Sir,” he stammered, “ you ask more of me than 
I can do. I will give all my time and all my 
mind to my country ; but I am afraid, sir — I am 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


279 


very much afraid — that you are putting me in a 
position that I am not capable of filling.” 

“We must trust some one, Major Washington, 
and I sent not for you until I and my council 
had fully determined what to do. Here are your 
instructions. You will see that you are directed 
to set out with a suitable escort at once for the 
Ohio River, and convene all the chiefs you can 
at Logstown. You are to find out exactly how 
thev stand towards us. You are then to take 

%J 

such a route as you think judicious to the nearest 
French post, deliver a letter from me, sealed with 
the great seal of the colony, to the French com- 
mandant, and demand an answer in the name 
of his Britannic majesty. You are to find out 
everything possible in regard to the number of 
French forts, their armament, troops, commis- 
sariat, and where they are situated ; and upon 
the information you bring w T ill depend to a great 
degree whether there shall be war between Eng- 
land and France. When will you be ready to 
depart ?” 

“ To-morrow morning, sir,” answered George. 



CHAPTER XVIII 


The next day, the 31st of October, 1753, George 
set forth on his arduous mission. He had before 
him nearly six hundred miles of travelling, much 
of it through an unbroken wilderness, where snow 
and ice and rain and hail at that season were to 
be expected. In the conference with the gov- 
ernor and his advisers, which lasted until after 
midnight, George had been given carte blanche 
in selecting his escort, which was not to exceed 
seven persons until he reached Logstown, when 
he could take as many Indians as he thought wise. 
He quickly made up his mind as to whom he 
wanted. He wished first a person of gentle breed- 
ing as an interpreter between himself and the 
French officers. He remembered Captain Jacob 
Vanbraam, a Dutch officer, now retired, and liv- 
ing at Fredericksburg, who might be induced to 
make the journey. Then there were Gist and 
John Davidson. It was thought best, however, 
to take an Indian along as interpreter for the 
Indians, as they might complain, in case of a mis- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


281 


understanding, that Davidson had fooled them. 
In regard to the other three persons George con- 
cluded that it would be well to wait until he 
reached Green way Court, which was directly in 
the route of his outward journey, as he would be 
most likely to find in that vicinity a person better 
used to such an expedition than in the lower 
country. Armed with full credentials by the 
governor, and with a belt around his body con- 
taining a large sum in gold and negotiable bills, 
George at daylight took the road he had trav- 
ersed the night before. 

He determined not to take Billy on the expe- 
dition, but he rather dreaded the wild howlings 
and wailings which he thought it was certain 
Billy would set up when he found he could not go. 
George therefore thought it well as they trotted 
along to make Billy ride up with him, and de- 
scribe all the anticipated hardships of the coming 
journey. He did not soften one line in the pict- 
ure, and enlarged particularly upon the scarcity 
of food, and the chances of starving in the wilder- 
ness, or being scalped and roasted by Indians. 
Billy’s countenance during this was a study. 
Between his devotion to George and his terror of 
the impending expedition Billy was in torment, 
and when at last George told him he must re- 
main at either Mount Vernon or Ferry Farm. 


282 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


Billy did not know whether to howl or to 
grin. 

George reached Fredericksburg that night, and 
went immediately to Captain Vanbraam’s house. 
The Dutchman, a stout, middle-aged man, yet of 
a soldierly appearance, at once agreed to go, and, 
in the few hours necessary for his preparations, 
George took the opportunity of crossing the river, 
and spending the night with his mother and sister 
and brothers at Ferry Farm. Ilis mother was 
full of fear for him, but she realized that this brave 
and gifted son was no longer solely hers — his 
country had need of him as soon as he came of 
age. Next morning Bet-tv went with him across 
the river, and bade him good-bye with the smiling 
lips and tear-filled eyes that always marked her 
farewells with George, her best beloved. Billy 
wept vociferously, but was secretly much relieved 
at being left behind. Four days afterwards George 
and Captain Vanbraam reached Greenway Court, 
having sent an express on the way to Gist and 
Davidson, who lived on the Great North Moun- 
tain. 

When George burst into Lord Fairfax’s library 
one night about dusk the earl knew not whether 
to be most delighted or surprised. He immedi- 
ately began to tell the earl of his forthcoming 
plan, thanking him at the same time for procuring 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


283 


him such preferment. “ And I assure you, sir,” 
he said, with sparkling eyes, “ although at first I 
felt a strange sinking of the heart, and was ap- 
palled at the idea that I was unequal to the task, 
as soon as the command was laid upon me I felt 
my spirits rise and my fears disappear. If I suc- 
ceed I shall be very happy, and if I fail the world 
will say I was but a boy, after all. Why did 
his excellency send an inexperienced young man 
on such an errand ? But I shall certainly do my 
best.” 

“ Angels can do no more,” the earl quoted. 

George’s eagerness and his boyish enthusiasm 
pleased the earl, who had no taste for solemn 
youngsters ; and he listened, smiling, as George 
poured forth his hopes, plans, and aspirations. 
When he spoke of the additional men to be 
taken, Lord Fairfax said : 

“I know of two capable ones. Black Bear 
would make an excellent Indian interpreter, and 
Lance would be the very man to note the French 
fortifications. He has as good a military eye 
as I ever knew.” 

George gasped with delight. 

“ Do you mean, sir,” he cried, “ that you will 
really let me have Lance ?” 

“ Go and ask him.” 

The young major, who had impressed the gov- 


284 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


ernor and councillors with his gravity and dig- 
nity, now jumped up and ran to the armory, 
bawling “ Lance! Lance!” at the top of a pair 
of powerful lungs. Lance promptly appeared, 
and in three words George told him the plan. 
Old Lance nearly wrung George’s hand off at 
the news. 

“Well, sir, it makes me feel nigh thirty years 
younger to be going among the mounseers 
again. Maybe you think, sir, I never saw a 
French fort ; but I tell you, sir, I have seen more 
French forts, aye, and been at the taking, too, 
than they have between here and Canada.” 

Black Bear was across the mountain, but a 
messenger was sent at once for him, and he was 
told to bring another trusty Indian along. With- 
in two days from reaching Greenway Court the 
party was ready to start. Lord Fairfax saw 
George set off, in high health and spirits, and 
full of restrained enthusiasm. He wore the buck- 
skin shirt and leggings of a huntsman to make 
the journey in, but in his saddle-bags was a fine 
new major’s uniform of the provincial army, 
and he carried the rapier given him many years 
before by Lord Fairfax. 

Seven days’ hard travelling, at the beginning 
of the wintry season, brought the party to Logs- 
town, not far from what is now Pittsburg. The 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


285 


journey had been hard, snow having fallen early, 
and, the fords being swollen, the party were 
obliged to swim their horses across the mountain 
streams. But George had not found time heavy 
on his hands. Captain Yanbraam and Lance dis- 
covered that they had served in different cam- 
paigns in the same region, and, without forget- 
ting the status between an officer and a private 
soldier, they were extremely good comrades, 
much to George's delight. 

On their arrival at Logstown, Black Bear at 
once went in search of his father, the great chief 
of one of the Six Nations, and the other chiefs 
were assembled in the course of a day or two. 
George found them much incensed against the 
French, but, like all their tribe, before they could 
act they had to have man} 7 meetings and a great 
oratorical display. George, who loved not speech- 
making, made them but one brief address, and 
by using all his powers managed to get Tana- 
charison and representatives of the other tribes 
off, and in a few days more they arrived at a 
French outpost. It was merely a log-house with 
the French colors flying over it. George, wait- 
ing until dusk, and leaving his Indian allies out 
of sight, taking only with him Yanbraam and 
Lance, as his servant, rode up to the door and 
knocked. Three French officers appeared, and, 


286 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


on seeing two gentlemen in uniform, the senior, 
Captain Joncaire, civilly asked them, in broken 
English, to alight and sup with them. 

George, with equal politeness, told them that 
he was the bearer of a letter to M. de St. Pierre, 
the commandant at the French fort farther up, 
but would be pleased to accept their hospitality. 

Inside the house was quite comfortable, and 
the party, except Lance, who waited on the ta- 
ble, soon sat down to supper. As George had 
frankly informed them of his mission, it behooved 
them to be prudent, and so they were until the 
wine began to flow. Captain Vanbraam had not 
thought it his duty to let on that he understood 
French, and the conversation had been conduct- 
ed in such English as the French could com- 
mand. George, although he could not speak 
French, could understand it a little, especially 
with the help of the abundant gestures the 
French used. 

He had always had a contempt for men who 
“ put an enemy in their mouths to steal away 
their brains,” and the spectacle soon presented 
by the French officers made him swear inwardly 
that never, so long as he lived, would he put 
himself in the condition they were in then. 
These men, brave and otherwise discreet, passed 
the bottle so often that they soon lost all sense of 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


287 


prudence, and, turning from broken English to 
French, told things in regard to their military 
plans which they would have died rather than be- 
tray. Captain Joncaire, forgetting, in his maudlin 
state, that George had said he did not understand 
French well, turned to him and said, in French : 

“ Ah, you English mean to drive us out. Well, 
let me tell you, we are not to be driven out. We 
expect to go to war with your country soon, and 
this is a good place to begin. We know that you 
can raise two men to our one, but you have a 
dilatory, foolish governor in Virginia, and he will 
let us overrun the country before he does any- 
thing to stop us.” 

As he kept on, giving information about his 
people that he should never have done, and 
which George partly understood, such keen con- 
tempt came into George’s eyes that a gleam 
of soberness returned to Captain Joncaire, and 
for a few minutes he said no more. But “ when 
the wine is in the wit is out,” and the French- 
men continued to talk in the foolish manner 
which awaits the wisest man when he makes a 
beast of himself with liquor. 

At ten o’clock George and Captain Vanbraam 
had to tear themselves away from the French- 
men, who, drunker than ever, tried to hold them 
back by embracing them. 


288 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


As they made their way back to their camp 
Captain Yanbraam repeated every word the 
drunken officers had said. George spoke little. 
The spectacle was not only disgusting but pain- 
ful to him. 

Next morning, early, Captain Joncaire sought 
out their camp, and professed great surprise at 
seeing the Indians, whom he declared to be his 
friends. He invited them to the house, where 
George well knew there would be liquor and 
cajolery in plenty for them. 

“ My dear Major Washington,’ 1 cried Joncaire, 
after a while, and coloring slightly as he spoke, 
“ I am afraid you had- us at a disadvantage last 
night. We talked rather wildly, I fancy, but 
don't put too much confidence in what we said 
when the wine was flowing.” 

“ I am compelled to put confidence in what 
Captain Joncaire and his officers say, drunk or 
sober,” was George’s reply, delivered not with- 
out sarcasm, at which Captain Joncaire winced. 
The Frenchmen invited the Indians to their post, 
and George had the mortification of seeing them 
all carried off, except Tanacharison and his son 
Black Bear ; and when, in the evening, he sent 
for the chiefs, they returned to him stupidly 
drunk and loaded with presents from the French. 

“ We must get them away as soon as possible,” 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


289 


said George to his white followers and his two 
faithful Indians. Tanacharison, a venerable old 
chief and a man of great eloquence, watched 
the Indians in their drunken sleep, and when 
they wakened, although it was near sundown, so 
worked upon them by a speech he made them 
that they agreed to leave with the rest of the 
party. George and Captain Yanbraam went to 
the French post to bid the officers a polite fare- 
well. 

Captain Joncaire said many civil things to 
them, and sent them a handsome present of pro- 
visions, but was evidently chagrined at the Ind- 
ians being carried off under his very nose. 

Eleven days more of travelling through intense 
cold, with the snow deep on the ground, brought 
the party to Fort Le Boeuf, on French Creek, 
about fifteen miles from Lake Erie. This was 
commanded by M. Lagardeur de St. Pierre, an 
old French officer of great ability, and a cheva- 
lier of the military order of St. Louis. 

The party reached the fort late in the evening 
and found it a stout place, well adapted for de- 
fence. George rode up to the gate — his horse 
now a sorry-looking creature — and asked to be 
conducted to the commandant. As soon as the 
message was delivered M. de St. Pierre came out 

in person, and, receiving the letter from the Gov- 
19 


290 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


ernor of Virginia with great respect, raising his 
hat in taking it, invited Major Washington’s 
party in. 

Although strictly attending to the comman- 
dant’s conversation, George used his keen eyes 
to the utmost advantage, and he felt sure that 
Lance was doing the same thing. There were 
over a hundred soldiers in the fort, and not less 
than thirty officers. 

George and his party were led through a 
courtyard, around which were barracks and offi- 
cers’ quarters, protected by bastions well pro- 
vided with artillerv. Arrived at the comman- 
dant’s quarters, M. de St. Pierre said, courteously, 
in English : 

“When you and your party have refreshed 
yourselves for a day or two, Major Washington, 
we will discuss the matters contained in the 
governor's letter.” 

Now this was just what George did not de- 
sire. lie knew that every artifice would be 
practised on his Indian allies to win them to the 
French, as Captain Joncaire had done, with much 
greater prospect of success. How would he per- 
suade them to leave the good food, the seductive 
liquor, and the presents that he felt sure the 
French were ready to shower upon them? His 
only dependence was upon Tanacharison and 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


291 


Black Bear. How often did he rejoice inward- 
ly over that bucket of water he had given Black 
Bear the night of the attack at Green way Court, 
six years before ! His reply, therefore, to the 
French commandant was polite but positive : 

“ I thank you, sir, for your kindness, but I am 
ready, at this moment, to proceed to the consid- 
eration of his excellency’s letter.” 

This slightly disconcerted M. de St. Pierre, 
who had some inward contempt for the youth of 
the ambassador sent by the governor. 

“ I shall have to send for my second in com- 
mand, Captain Eeparti,” he said, “ who left us 
this morning to visit another post.” 

“ I hope, monsieur, that you will send for him 
at your earliest convenience, for my orders are 
peremptory — to deliver the letter and return with 
an answer at the earliest possible moment.” 

“ If I send this evening,” remarked M. de St. 
Pierre, “my messenger might lose his "way in the 
darkness.” 

“ If you will kindly give me the directions, 
sir,” answered George, with much politeness, “ I 
have men in my party who can make the jour- 
ney by night, although they have never trav- 
ersed this part of the country before.” 

“ I will send, however, immediately,” said M. 
de St. Pierre, coloring slightly, and comprehend- 


292 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


ing that he was dealing with a natural diplo- 
matist. 

After a very^ agreeable dinner George was 
shown to his room, where Lance, as his servant, 
awaited him. Scarcely was the door closed be- 
fore George began, anxiously : 

“ Where are the Indians ?” 

“ In the barrack- room, sir. The French sol- 
diers are promising them guns and powder and 
shot and hatchets, and pouring liquor down all 
of them except Tanacharison and Black Bear, 
who won’t drink, and who mean to be true to 
us. But, sir, you can’t blame the poor devils 
for taking what the French give them.” 

“ We must get away from here as soon as 
possible,” cried George. “ What have you no- 
ticed in the fort, Lance ?” 

“ That it’s mighty well made, sir ; the moun- 
seers are fine engineers, and they know how to 
build a fort. They have eight six -pounders 
mounted in the bastions, and a four-pounder at 
the gate-house. But they have got a lot more 
places pierced for guns, and you may depend 
upon it, sir, they have a-plenty more guns than 
they choose to show stowed away somewhere.” 

Next morning, Captain Beparti having arrived, 
M. de St. Pierre and his officers considered the 
governor’s letter privately, and then, admitting 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


293 


George, with his interpreter, Captain Vanbraam, 
an answer was dictated denying the right of the 
English to any part of the country watered by 
the Ohio River. This was an important and dan- 
gerous announcement, and, although not a word 
was said about war, yet every man present knew 
that if this contention were maintained England 
and France must fight, and the country must be 
drenched with blood. George, with perfect com- 
posure, received the letter, and, rising, said : 

“ My mission, sir, is accomplished. I have de- 
livered the governor’s letter, and your reply, M. 
de St. Pierre, shall be conveyed not only to the 
governor but to his Britannic majesty. I am 
now ready to take my leave.’ 1 

“ Do not be in so great a hurry to leave us, 
Major Washington,” said M. de St. Pierre, suave- 
ly. “ Some of my young officers promised a few 
guns to your Indian allies, by way of making 
them satisfied to remain during our negotiation, 
which I thought would be longer, and the guns 
cannot arrive until to-morrow morning.” 

As George knew the impossibility of getting 
the Indians off without the guns, he consented 
with the utmost readiness to remain ; but he 
would have given half his fortune to have got 
off. 

The day was one of intense nervous strain on 


294 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


him. His sole dependence in managing the Ind- 
ians were Tanacharison and Black Bear. And 
what if they should betray him? But at night 
the old chief and his son came to him and prom- 
ised most solemnly to get the chiefs away as 
soon ns the guns should arrive in the morning. 
George had a luxurious bed in his rude though 
comfortable quarters, but he slept not one wink 
that night. By daylight he was up. Soon after 
Lance sidled up to him in the courtyard, and 
said : 

“ Sir, the guns have come — I saw them myself ; 
but the Frenchies will not say a word about it 
unless they are asked.” 

J ust then M. de St. Pierre, wrapped in a great 
surtout, appeared, coming out of his quarters. 

“ Good-morning, Major Washington !” he cried. 

“ Good -morning, M. do St. Pierre!” replied 
George, gayly. “ I must give orders to my party 
for an early start, as the guns you promised the 
Indians have arrived, and I have no further ex- 
cuse for remaining.” 

“ Sacro bleu !” burst out M. do St. Pierre ; “ I 
did not expect the guns so soon !” At which he 
looked into George’s eyes, and suddenly both 
burst out laughing. The Frenchman saw that 
his ruse was understood. 

The party was soon collected, and after a 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


2 95 


hearty breakfast George took his leave, and, 
much to the chagrin of the French, succeeded in 
carrying off all his Indian allies with him. They 
rapidly retraced their road, and when they made 
their lirst halt, ten miles from Fort Le Boeuf, 
George exclaimed, aside to Lance : 

“This is the first easy moment I have known 

for t wen tv-four hours !” 

«/ 

“ ’Tis the first I have had, sir, since we got to 
the first post, fourteen days ago !” 

It was now the latter part of December. The 
horses, gaunt and starved, were no longer fit for 
riding, and George set the example of dismount- 
ing and going on foot. Their progress with so 
large a party was not rapid, and George deter- 
mined to leave Captain VTtnbraam, with the 
horses and provisions, to follow, while he, in his 
health and strength, set off at a more rapid gait, 
in order that he might reach Williamsburg with 
M. de St. Pierre’s defiant letter as soon as possi- 
ble. Lance, with his experience as a foot-soldier, 
easily proved his superiority when they were re- 
duced to walking, so George chose him as a com- 
panion. Christmas Day was spent in a long, 
hard march, and on the next day George, dress- 
ing himself in his buckskin shirt and leggings, 
with his gun and valuable papers, and giving 
most of the money for the expedition to Captain 


296 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


Yanbraam, struck off with Lance for a more 
rapid progress. 

The two walked steadily all day, and covered 
almost twice as much ground as the party follow- 
ing them. At night with their flints they struck 
a roaring fire in the forest, and took turns in 
watching and sleeping. By daylight they were 
again afoot. 

“ I never saw such a good pair of legs as you 
have, sir, in all my life,’' said Lance, on this day, 
as they trudged along. “My regiment was 
counted to have the best legs for steady work 
in all the Duke of Marlborough’s army, and 
mine were considered the best pair in the regi- 
ment, but you put me to my trumps.” 

“ Perhaps if you were as young as I you 
would put me to my trumps, for — ” 

At this moment a shot rang out in the fro- 
zen air, and a bullet made a clean hole through 
George’s buckskin cap. One glance showed him 
an Indian crouching in the brushwood. With a 
spring as quick and sure as a panther’s, George 
had the savage by the throat, and wrenched the 
firelock, still smoking, from his hand. Behind 
him half a dozen Indian figures were seen steal- 
ing off through the trees. Lance walked up, 
and, raising a hatchet over the Indian’s head, 
said, coolly : 



“GEOIIGE HAD THE SAVAGE BY THE THliOAT 





A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


297 


“Mr. Washington, we must kill him as we 
would a rattlesnake.” 

“No,” replied George, “I will not have him 
killed.” * 

The Indian, standing perfectly erect and ap- 
parently unconcerned, understood well enough 
that the question of his life or death w T as under 
discussion, but with a more than Roman forti- 
tude he awaited his fate, glancing indifferently 
meanwhile at the glittering edge of the hatchet 
still held over him. 

George took the hatchet from Lance’s hand, 
and said to the Indian, in English : 

“ Though you have tried to kill me, I will 
spare your life. But I will not trust you be- 
hind me. Walk ten paces in front of us in the 
direction of the Alleghany River.” 


* Washington, in his journal, speaks of the Indian firing 
at him at short range, but says nothing of his preventing 
his companion from killing the would-be' murderer. But his 
companion expressly says that he would have killed the Ind- 
ian on the spot had not Washington forbidden him. The 
Indians became very superstitious about Washington’s im- 
munity from bullets, especially after Braddock’s defeat. In 
that battle he was tbe target for the best marksmen among 
them, and not only escaped without a scratch, although two 
horses were killed under him and his clothes riddled with 
bullets, but he was the only officer of Braddock’s military 
family who survived. 


298 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


The Indian turned, and, after getting his bear- 
ings, started off in a manner which showed he 
understood what was required of him. 

The Indians have keen ears, so that George 
and Lance dared not speak in his hearing, but 
by exchanging signs they conve} T ed to each other 
that there were enemies on their path, of whom 
this fellow was only one. 

Steadily the three tramped for hours, Lance 
carrying the Indian’s gun. When darkness came 
on they stopped and made the Indian make the 
fire, which he did, scowling, as being squaw’s 
work. They then divided with him their scanty 
ration of dried venison, and George, taking charge 
of the guns, Lance slept two hours. lie was 
then wakened by George, who lay down by the 
fire and slept two hours, when he too was wak- 
ened. George then said to the Indian, who had 
remained sleepless and upright all the time: 

“We have determined to let you go, as we 
have not food enough for three men. Go back 
to your tribe, and tell them that we spared your 
life; but before you go pile wood on the fire, 
for we may have to remain here, on account of 
the rise in the river, for several days.” 

This was a ruse , but the Indian fell at once 
into the trap. After replenishing the fire he 
started off in a northwesterly direction. As 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


299 


soon as George and Lance were sure that he was 
out of sight they made off in the opposite direc- 
tion, and after some hours of trudging through 
snow and ice they found themselves on the 
bank of the river. They had hoped to find it 
frozen over, but, instead, there was only a fringe 
of ice-cakes along the shores and swirling about 
in the main channel. 

Lance looked at George in some discourage- 
ment, but George only said, cheerfully : 

“ It is lucky you have the hatchet, Lance. We 
must make a raft.” 

The short winter day was nearly done before 
a rude raft was made, and on it the two em- 
barked. The piercing wind dashed their frail 
contrivance about, and it was buffeted by the 
floating ice. The Indian’s gun was lost, but 
their powder, in an oilskin knapsack, which 
George carried on his back, escaped wetting, 
although he himself, as well as Lance, was 
drenched to the skin. They could not make 
the opposite shore, but were forced to land on 
an island, where they spent the night. The 
hardships told on the older man, and George 
saw, by the despairing look in Lance’s eyes, that 
he could do no more that day. Wood, however, 
was plentiful, and a great fire was made. 

“Cheer up, Lance!” cried George, when the 


300 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


fire began to blaze ; “ there is still some dried 
venison left. You shall sleep to-night, and in 
the morning the river will be frozen over, and 
one more day’s march will bring us to civiliza- 
tion. 

Lance was deeply mortified at his temporary 
collapse, but there was no denying it. George had 
no sleep that night, except about two hours after 
midnight, when Lance roused of himself. By 
daylight they were astir, and crossed the river 
on the ice. Five days afterwards, at a fork in 
the road twenty miles from Greenwav Court, 
the two parted — Lance to return to Green way 
Court, and George to press on to Williamsburg. 
By that time they had secured horses. 

“ Good-b} r e, my friend,” said George. “ Tell 
my lord that nothing but the urgency of the 
case prevented me from giving myself the hap- 
piness of seeing him, and that no day has passed 
since he sent you with me that I have not thanked 
him in my heart for your company.” 

A subtile quiver came upon Lance’s rugged 
face. 

“ Mr. Washington,” he said, ‘‘I thank you 
humbly for what you have said; but mark my 
words, sir, the time will come, if it is not already 
here, that my lord will be thankful for every 
hour that you have spent with him, and proud 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


301 


for every step of advancement he has helped 
you to.” 

“ I hope so, my friend,” cried George, gayly, 
and turning to go. 

Lance watched the tall, lithe young figure in 
hunting-clothes, worn and torn, riding jauntily off, 
until George was out of sight. Then he himself 
struck out for Green way Court. Four days after- 
wards a tattered figure rode up to Mount Yernon. 
The negroes laughed and cried and yah-yahed 
at seeing “ Marse George ” in such a plight. 
Spending only one night there, in order to get 
some clothes and necessaries, he left at day- 
break for Williamsburg, where he arrived and 
reported to the governor exactly eleven weeks 
from the day he started on this terrible journey. 


CHAPTER XIX 


The news brought by George confirmed all the 
fears of the w T ar which was presently to begin 
and to last for seven years. The governor im- 
mediately called together his council, laid before 
them Major Washington's report, and for once 
acted with promptitude. It was determined to 
raise a force of several hundred men, to take pos- 
session of the disputed territory, and, without a 
single opposing voice, the command was offered 
to Major Washington, with the additional rank 
of lieutenant-colonel. 

George said little, but his gratification was 
deeper than he could express. lie wrote to his 
mother at once, and also to Betty, and Betty an- 
swered : “ Our mother is very resigned, for she 
knows, dear George, that when one has a son or 
a brother who is a great military genius , and who 
everybody knows must one day be a great man , 
one must give him up to his country.” At which 
George laughed very much, for he did not think 
himself either a genius or a great man. 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


303 


After receiving the governor’s instructions, 
and paving a flying visit to Ferry Farm, George 
went to Mount Vernon, as all the preparations 
for the campaign were to be made at Alexandria, 
which was the rendezvous. 

His days were now spent in the most arduous 
labor. He knew what was before him, and he 
was full of care. He was very anxious to enlist 
men from the mountain districts, as being better 
able to withstand the hardships of a mountain 
campaign. He wrote to Lord Fairfax, who was 
lieutenant of the county of Frederick, and a re- 
cruiting station was opened at Green way Court. 
At last, in April, he was ready to march on his 
first campaign. His force consisted of about 
four hundred Virginia troops, with nine swivels 
mounted on carriages. He expected to be joined 
by other troops from Maryland and Pennsylvania, 
but he was doomed to be cruelly disappointed. 
The morning of the 15th of April, 1754, was 
bright and warm, and at eight o’clock the soldiers 
marched out, to the music of the fife and drum, 
from the town of Alexandria, with Colonel Wash- 
ington at their head. 

They were a fine-looking body of men, but, as 
always, Colonel Washington was the finest figure 
present. He rode a superb chestnut horse, hand- 
somely caparisoned. In his splendid new uniform 


304 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


liis elegant figure showed to the greatest advan- 
tage. All the windows of the streets through 
which they marched were filled with spectators. 
At one Colonel Washington removed his chapeau, 
and bowed as if to royalty, for from it his moth- 
er and Betty were watching him. Ilis mother 
raised her hands in blessing, while Betty held 
out her arms as if to clasp him. And when he 
had passed the two fond creatures fell into each 
other's arms, and cried together very heartily. 

Captain Yanbraam commanded the first com- 
pany. In one of the baggage - wagons sat a fa- 
miliar figure. It was Billy — not left behind this 
time, but taken as George's body-servant. 

On the 20th Will's Creek was reached. A 
small part} r of men under Captain Trench had 
been sent forward by the governor to the Ohio 
River, with orders to build a fort at what is now 
Pittsburg, and there await Colonel Washington. 
But while the Virginia troops were marching 
through the forest, before sighting the creek, an 
officer on a horse was seen approaching, lie 
rode up to George, and, saluting, said : 

“ I am Ensign Ward, sir, of Captain Trench's 
company.” 

“ From the fort at the meeting of the Alle- 
ghany and Monongahela ?” asked George. 

“ Ah, sir,” cried the young officer, with tears 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


305 


in his eyes, “the fort is no longer ours. A 
French force, consisting of nearly a thousand 
men, appeared while we were at work on it, and 
opened fire on us. We were but forty-one, and 
we were forced to hoist the white flag without 
firing a shot.” 

This was, indeed, dreadful news. It showed 
that the French were fully alive to the situation, 
if not beforehand with the English. Even a 
small detachment of the French force could cut 
off and destroy this little band of four companies. 
George’s mind was hard at work while young 
Ward gave the details of the surrender. His 
only comment was : 

“We must push on to a point I have marked 
on the Monongahela, and there build the fort in- 
stead of at the junction of the rivers.” 

After passing Will’s Creek they were in the 
heart of the wilderness. The transportation of 
the guns, ammunition, and baggage was so diffi- 
cult, owing to the wildness of the country, that 
they were fourteen days in making fourteen 
miles. But the men, animated by their com- 
mander, toiled uncomplainingly at work most 
distasteful to soldiers — cutting down trees, mak- 
ing bridges, and dragging the guns over rocks 
when wheels could not turn. Even Billy worked 

for the first time in his life. One night, after 
20 


306 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


three weeks of this labor, an Indian stalked up 
to the camp and demanded to see the commander. 
George happened to be passing on his nightly 
round of inspection, and in a moment recognized 
his old friend Tanacharison. “Welcome!” cried 
the chief in the Indian tongue, and calling George 
by his Indian name of “ Young White Warrior.” 

“ Welcome to you,” answered George, more 
than pleased to see his ally. 

“ This is no time for much talk,” said the Ind- 
ian. “Fifty French soldiers with Captain Ju- 
monville are concealed in a glen six miles away. 
They are spies for the main body — for the 
French have three men to your one — and if they 
find you here you will be cut to pieces. But if 
you can catch the French spies, the main body 
will not know where you are ; and,” he added, 
with a crafty smile, “if they should meet Tana- 
charison, he will send them a hundred miles in 
the wrong direction.” 

George saw in a moment the excellence of the 
old chiefs advice. Tanacharison knew the road, 
which was comparatively easy, and offered to 
guide them, and to assist with several of his 
braves. It was then nine o’clock, and rain had be- 
gun falling in torrents. George retired to his rude 
shelter of boughs, called together his officers, and 
announced his intention of attacking this party 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


307 


of fifty Frenchmen. He made a list of forty 
picked men, and at midnight he caused them to 
be wakened quietly, and set off without arous- 
ing the whole camp. 

The wind roared and the rain changed to 
hail, but still the Virginians, with Washington 
at their head, kept on through the woods. Some- 
times they sank up to their knees in quagmires 
— again they cut their feet against sharp stones ; 
but they never halted. At daybreak they en- 
tered the glen in two files, the Indians on one 
side, the Virginians on the other, George leading. 
It w r as a wild place, surrounded by rocks, with 
only one narrow cleft for entrance. Just as the 
last man had entered the alarm was given, and 
firing began from both parties at the same time. 
The French resisted bravely, headed by Captain 
Jumonville, who was the first man to fall; but 
a quarter of an hours sharp fighting decided the 
skirmish, and the French called for quarter. 
This was George’s baptism of fire, and it was 
the beginning of war between France and Eng- 
land, which was to last, with but a few years’ 
intermission, for more than fifty years. 

The prisoners were at once taken back to the 
American camp, and then sent, under guard, 
back to Virginia. This little success raised the 
spirits of the troops very much, but George, with 


308 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


a prophetic eye, knew that, as soon as the story 
of Jumonville’s defeat and death reached the 
French, a formidable force would be sent out 
against him. He had brave and active spies, 
who penetrated almost as far as Fort Duquesne, 
as the French had named Trench's fort, but 
none of them equalled old Tanacharison. One 
night, the last of June, he and three other scouts 
brought the news that the French were advanc- 
ing, nine hundred strong, and were near at hand. 
A council of war was called, and it was deter- 
mined to retreat to Great Meadows, where a 
better stand could be made, and where it was 
thought provisions and reinforcements would 
meet them. Accordingly, at daybreak, a start 
was made. The horses had become so weak 
from insufficient food that they could no longer 
drag the light swivels, and the men were forced 
to haul them. George himself set the example 
of the officers walking, and, dismounting, loaded 
his horse with public stores, while he engaged 
the men, for liberal pay, to carry his own small 
baggage. It very much disgusted Billy to be 
thrown out of his comfortable seat in the bag- 
gage-wagon, but he was forced to leg it like his 
betters. 

Two days' slow and painful marching brought 
them to Great Meadows, but, to their intense 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


309 


disappointment, not a man was found, nor pro- 
visions of any sort. The men were disheart- 
ened but unmurmuring. 

George immediately set them to work felling 
trees and making such breastworks of earth and 
rocks as they could manage with their few tools. 

“ I shall call this place Fort Necessity,” he 
said to his officers ; “ for it is necessity, not 
choice, that made me retreat here.” 

Every hour in the day and night he expected 
to be attacked, but no attack would have caught 
him unprepared to resist as best he could with 
his feeble force. His ceaseless vigilance surprised 
even those who knew how tireless he w r as. 

At last, on the morning of the 3d of July, 
just as George had finished making the round of 
the sentries, he heard, across the camp, a shot, 
followed by the sudden shriek of a wounded 
man. The French skirmishers were on the 
ground, and one of them, being seen stealing 
along in the underbrush, had been challenged by 
the sentry, and had fired in reply and winged his 
man. The alarm was given, and by nine o’clock 
it was known that a French force of nine hun- 
dred men, with artillery, was approaching rap- 
idly. By eleven o’clock the gleam of their 
muskets could be seen through the trees as they 
advanced to the attack. Meanwhile not a mo- 


310 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


raent since the first alarm had been lost in the 
American camp. George seemed to be every- 
where at once, animating his men, and seeing 
that every possible preparation was made. He 
had posted his little force in the best possible 
manner, and had instructed his officers to fight 
where they were, and not to be drawn from their 
position into the woods, where the French could 
slaughter them at will. 

The French began their fire at six hundred 
yards, but the Americans did not return a shot 
until the enemy was within range, when George, 
himself sighting a swivel, sent a shot screeching 
into the midst of them. He fully expected an 
assault, but the French were wary, and, knowing 
their superiority in force, as well as the longer 
range of their artiller} T , withdrew farther into 
the woods, and began to pla} r their guns on the 
Americans, who could not fire an effective shot. 
The French sharp-shooters, too, posting them- 
selves behind trees, picked off the Americans, and 
especially aimed at the horses, which they de- 
stroyed one by one. All during the hot July 
day this continued. The Americans showed an 
admirable spirit, and this young commander, with 
the fortitude of a veteran, encouraged them to 
resist, but he was too good a soldier not to see 
that there could be but one issue to it. At every 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


811 


volley from the French some of the Americans 
dropped, and this going on, hour after hour, 
under a burning sun, by weary, half-starved men, 
would have tried the courage of the best soldiers 
in the world. But the men and their young 
commander were animated by the same spirit 
— they must stubbornly defend every inch of 
ground and die in the last ditch. 

Captain Vanbraam, who was second in com- 
mand, was a man of much coolness, and knew 
the smell of burning powder well. During the 
day, standing near him, he said quietly to George : 

“ I see, Colonel Washington, that you practice 
the tactics of all great soldiers : if you cannot 
win, you will at least make the enemy pay dearly 
for his victory.” George turned a pale but de- 
termined face upon him. 

“ I must never let the Frenchman think that 
Americans are easily beaten. They outnumber 
us three to one, but we- must fight for honor 
when we can no longer fight for victory. Nor 
can I acknowledge myself beaten before the 
Frenchman thinks so, and he must sound the 
parley first. The braver our defence the better 
will be the terms offered us.” 

Captain Vanbraam gazed with admiration at 
the commanding officer of twenty-three— so cool, 
so determined in the face of certain disaster. 


312 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


George in all his life had never seen so many 
dead and wounded as on that July day, but he 
bore the sight unflinchingly. 

About sunset on this terrible day a furious 
thunder-storm arose. Within ten minutes the 
sky, that had gleamed all day like a dome of 
heated brass, grew black. The clouds rushed 
from all points of the compass, and formed a 
dense black pall overhead. It seemed to touch 
the very tops of the tall pines, that rocked and 
swayed fearfully, as a wind, fierce and sudden, 
swept through them. A crash of thunder, like 
two worlds coming together, followed a flash of 
lightning which rent the heavens. As tree after 
tree was struck in the forest and came down the 
sharp crash was heard. Then the heavens were 
opened and floods descended. At the beginning 
of the tempest George had promptly ordered the 
men to withdraw, with the wounded, inside the 
rude fort. He worked alongside with the pri- 
vate soldiers in trying to make the wounded men 
more comfortable, and lifted many of them with 
his own arms into the best protected spots. It 
was impossible to secure them from the rain, 
however, or to keep the powder dry, and George 
saw, with an anguish that nearly broke his heart, 
that he had fired his last shot. 

For two hours the storm raged, and then died 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


313 


away as suddenly as it rose. A pallid moon 
came out in the heavens, and a solemn and awful 
silence succeeded the uproar of tempest and bat- 
tle. About nine o’clock, by the dim light of a 
few lanterns, the Americans saw a party ap- 
proaching bearing a white flag, and with a drum- 
mer beating the parley. George, who was the 
first to see them, turned to Captain Yanbraam. 

“You will meet them, captain, but by no 
means allow them to enter the fort so they can 
see our desperate situation.” 

Captain Yanbraam, accompanied by two other 
officers, met the Frenchmen outside the breast- 
works, where they received a letter from the 
French commander to Colonel Washington. 
George read it by the light of a pine torch 
which Captain Yanbraam held for him. It ran : 

“Sir, — Desirous to avoid the useless effusion of blood, 
and to save the lives of gallant enemies like yourself and the 
men under your command, I propose a parley to arrange the 
terms of surrender of your forces to me as the representative 
of his most Christian majesty. Captain Du Yal, the bearer 
of this, is empowered to make terms with you or your rep- 
resentative, according to conditions which I have given him 
in writing, of which the first is that your command be per- 
mitted to march out with all the honors of war, drums beat- 
ing and colors flying. I have the honor to be, sir, with the 
highest respect, 

“ Your obedient, humble servant, 


“ Duchaine.” 


314 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


As George finished reading this letter for one 
moment his calmness deserted him, and with a 
groan he covered his face with his hands. But 
it was only for a moment ; the next he had re- 
covered a manly composure. With a drum-head 
for a table, and a log of wood for a seat, he 
called his officers about him, and quietly dis- 
cussed the proposed terms, Captain Vanbraam 
translating to those who did not understand 
French. The conditions were highly honorable. 
The Frenchman knew what he was about, and 
the stubborn resistance of the Americans had 
earned them, not only the respect, but the sub- 
stantial consideration of the French. They were 
to be paroled on delivering up their prisoners, 

and were to retain their side-arms and baggage. 

©© © 

The men knew what was going on, as orders 
had been given to cease firing, and having built 
camp-fires, sat about them, gloomy and despond- 
ent. But no word of murmuring escaped them. 
When at last, in about an hour, the preliminaries 
were arranged, signed, and sent to the French 
commander, George assembled round him the 
remnant of men left. 

“ My men,” he said, in a choked voice, “to- 
morrow morning at nine o'clock we shall march 
out of Fort Necessity beaten but not disgraced. 
Every man here has done his whole duty, but we 


“WITH DRUMS BEATING AND COLORS FLYING 








A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


315 


were outnumbered three to one; and our fight 
this day has been for our honor, not for victory, 
because victory was impossible. We are accord- 
ed all the honors of war, which shows that we 
are fighting men as honorable as ourselves. I 
thank you every one, officers and soldiers, for the 
manly defence }^ou have made. This is our first 
fight, but it is not our last, and the time will 
come, I hope, when we can wipe out this day’s 
record by a victory gained not by superior force 
but by superior gallantry.” 

A cheer broke from the men who had listened 
to him. They were soldiers, and they knew that 
they had been well commanded, and that the un- 
equal battle had been very nobly fought, and 
George Washington was one of the few men in 
the world’s history who could always command 
in defeat the confidence that other men can only 
secure in success. 

Next morning — by a strange coincidence the 
Fourth of July, then an unmarked day in the 
calendar — at nine o’clock the Americans marched 
out of camp. The French were drawn up in par- 
allel lines in front of the intrenchment. Know- 
ing that the American officers would be afoot, 
the French officers sent their horses to the rear. 
As the Americans marched out, with George 
Washington at their head, the French com- 


316 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


mander, Duckaine, turned to kis officers and said, 
smiling : 

“Look at tkat beautiful boy-commander! Are 
not suck provincials wortk conquering?” 

Tke Americans kalted, and George advanced 
to tkank tke Frenck commander for tke extreme 
courtesy skown tke Americans, for it was tke 
policy of the Frenck to conciliate tke Americans, 
and to profess to tkink tkem driven into tke war 
by England. 

Before George could speak tke Frenckman, 
saluting, said : 

“Colonel Washington, I kad keard tkat you 
were young, but not until tkis moment did I 
fully realize it. All day yesterday I thought 
I was fighting a man as old in war as I am, 
and I have been a soldier for more than thirty 
years.” 

George could only say a few words in reply, 
but to the core of kis heart he felt tke cordial 
respect given him by kis enemies. 

But kis thoughts were bitter on that home- 
ward march. lie kad been sent out to do great 
things, and he came back a defeated man. By 
the watch-fires at night he prepared kis account 
to be submitted to Governor Dinwiddie, and it 
was tke most painful work of kis life. After two 
weeks’ travel, the latter part of it in advance of 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER , 


317 


liis command, he reached Williamsburg. The 
House of Burgesses was in session, and this 
gave him a painful kind of satisfaction. He 
would know at once what was thought of his 
conduct. 

On the day of his arrival he presented himself 
before Governor Dinwiddie, who received him 
kindly. 

“ We know, Colonel Washington,” he said, 
“ that you surrendered three hundred men to 
nine hundred. But we also know that you gave 
them a tussle for it. Bemain here until I have 
communicated with the House of Burgesses, 
when you will, no doubt, be sent for.” 

George remained in his rooms at the Baleigh 
Tavern, seeing no one. He knew the governor 
perfectly well — a man of good heart but weak 
head — and he set more value on the verdict of his 
own countrymen, assembled as burgesses, than 
on the governor’s approval. He did not have 
to wait long. The House of Burgesses received 
His report, read it, and expressed a high sense of 
Colonel Washington’s courage and ability, al- 
though, in spite of both, he had been unfortunate, 
and declared a continuation of their confidence 
in him. Hot so Governor Dinwiddie. His heart 
was right, but whenever he thought for himself 
he always thought wrong. The fact that he 


318 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


had to report to the home government the fail- 
ure of this inadequate expedition set him to 
contriving, as all weak men will, some one or 
some circumstance on which to shift the respon- 
sibility. It occurred to him at once : the Vir- 
ginia troops were only provincial troops — Colo- 
nel Washington was a provincial officer. What 
was needed, this wise governor concluded, was 
regular troops and regular officers. This he 
urged strongl} 7 in his report to the home gov- 
ernment, and next day he sent for George. 

“ Colonel Washington,’' he said, suddenly, “I 
believe nothing can be accomplished without the 
aid of regular troops from England, and I have 
asked for at least two regiments for the next 
campaign. Meanwhile I have determined to 
raise ten companies to assist the regular force 
which is promised us in the spring, for it is now 
too late in the season for military operations. I 
offer you the command of one of those compa- 
nies. Your former officers will be similarly 
provided for; but I will state frankly that when 
the campaign opens the officers of the same rank 
in his majesty's regular troops will outrank those 
in the provincial army.” 

George listened to this remarkable speech 
with the red slowly mounting into his face. His 
temper, brought under control only by the most 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


319 


determined will, showed in his eyes, which liter- 
ally blazed with anger. 

“Sir,” he said, after a moment, “as I under- 
stand, you offer me a captain’s commission in ex- 
change for that which I now bear of lieutenant- 
colonel, and I am to be made the equal of men 
whom I have commanded, and all of us are to be 
outranked by the regular force.” 

The governor shifted uneasily in his chair, and 
finally began a long rigmarole which he meant 
for an explanation. George heard him through 
in an unbroken silence, which very much discon- 
certed the governor. Then he rose and said, with 
a low bow : 

“ Sir, I decline to accept the commission you 
offer me, and I think you must suppose me 
as empty as the commission itself in propos- 
ing it. I shall also have the honor of surren- 
dering to your excellency the commission of 
lieutenant - colonel, which you gave me ; and 
I bid you, sir, good - morning ” — and he was 
gone. 

The governor looked about him, dazed at find- 
ing himself so suddenly alone. 

“ What a young fire-eater !” he soliloquized. 
“ But it is the way with these republicans. 
They fancy themselves quite as good as any- 
body the king can send over here, and the spirit 


320 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


shown bv this young game cock is just what I 
might have expected of him.” 

The governor tried to dismiss the subject from 
his mind, but he could not, and he soon found 
out that “ the young game-cock’s ” spurs were 
fully grown. 


CHAPTER XX 


George returned to Alexandria, where his reg- 
iment awaited him. He was mad with rage and 
chagrin. He could have taken censure with hu- 
mility, feeling sure that whatever mistakes he 
had made were those of inexperience, not a 
want of zeal or courage. But to be quietly sup- 
planted, to be asked — after all the hardships and 
dangers he had passed through, and the exonera- 
tion from blame by his countrymen — to take a 
humiliating place, was more than he felt he 
ought to bear. 

When he reached Alexandria he informed his 
officers of the resignation of his commission, 
which would be accepted in a few days ; and 
their reply was an address, which did what all 
his cares and griefs and hardships had never 
done — it brought him to tears. A part of the 
letter ran thus : 

“Sir, — W e, your most obedient and affectionate officers, 
beg leave to express our great concern at the disagreeable 
news we have received of your determination to resign the 
21 


322 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


command of that corps in which we have, under you, long 
served. The happiness we have enjoyed and the honor we 
have acquired, together with the mutual regard that has al- 
ways subsisted between you and your officers, have implant- 
ed so sensible an affection in the minds of us all that we 
cannot be silent on this critical occasion. 

“Your steady adherence to impartial justice, your quick 
discernment and invariable regard to merit, first heightened 
our natural emulation to excel. Judge, then, how sensibly 
we must be affected with the loss of such an excellent com- 
mander, such a sincere friend, such an affable companion. 
How great the loss of such a man ! It gives us additional 
sorrow, when we reflect, to find our unhappy country will 
receive a loss no less irreparable than our own. Where will 
it find a man so experienced in military affairs — one so re- 
nowned for patriotism, conduct, and courage ? Who has so 
great a knowledge of the enemy we have to deal with ? 
Who so well acquainted with their situation and strength ? 
Who so much respected by the soldiery ? Who, in short, so 
well able to support the military character of Virginia ? We 
presume to entreat you to lead us on to assist in the glorious 
wrnrk of extirpating our enemies. In you we place the most 
implicit confidence. Your presence only will cause a steady 
firmness and vigor to actuate in every breast, despising the 
greatest dangers, and thinking light of toils and hardships, 
while led on by the man we know and love.”* 


♦This letter, which is printed in full in Marshall’s Life of 
Washington , was among the highest personal compliments 
ever paid Washington. The signers w r ere seasoned soldiers, 
addressing a young man of twenty-three, under whom they 
had made a campaign of frightful hardship ending in disas- 
ter. They were to be ordered to resume operations in the 
spring, and it was to this young man that these officers ap- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


323 


Deep, indeed, was the conviction which made 
George resist this letter ; but his reply was char- 
acteristic : “I made not this decision lightly, 
and all I ask is that I may be enabled to go 
with you in an honorable capacity; but to be 
degraded and superseded, this I cannot bear.” 

The governor was very soon made aware that 
the soldiers bitterly resented his treatment of 
their young commander, but he had gone too 
far to retreat. George, as soon as his resigna- 
tion was accepted, retired to Mount Yernon ; and 
about the time he left his regiment at Alexan- 
dria two frigates sailed up the Potomac with 
General Braddock and landed two thousand reg- 
ular troops for the spring campaign against the 
French and Indians. 

George spent the autumn and winter at Mount 
Yernon, where, until then, he had spent but one 
night in fifteen months. After getting his affairs 
there in some sort of order he visited his sister 
at Belvoir, and his mother and Betty at Ferry 
Farm. All of them noticed a change in him. 
He had grown more grave, and there was a sin- 
gular gentleness in his manner. His quick tem- 
per seemed to have been utterly subdued. Betty 
alone spoke to him of the change she saw. 

pealed, believing him to be essential to the proper conduct 
of the campaign. 


324 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


“I think, dear Betty,” lie answered, gently, 
“that no one can go through a campaign such 
as I have seen without being changed and soft- 
ened by it. And then I foresee a terrible war 
with France and discord with the mother-coun- 
try. We are upon the threshold of great events, 
depend upon it, of which no man can see the 
outcome .' 1 

The winter was passed in hard work at Mount 
Yernon. Onty by ceaseless labor could George 
control his restlessness. The military fever was 
kindled in his veins, and, do what he could, there 
was no subduing it, although he controlled it. 
Torn between the desire to serve his country as 
a military man and the sense of a personal and 
undeserved affront, he scarcely knew what to 
do. One day, in the fever of his impatience, he 
would determine to go to Alexandria and enlist 
as a private in his old corps. Then reason and 
reflection, which were never long absent from 
him, would return, and he would realize that his 
presence under such circumstances would seri- 
ously impair the discipline of the corps. And 
after receiving the officers’ letter, and hearing 
what was said and done among them, he was 
forced to recognize, in spite of his native mod- 
esty, that his old troops would not tolerate that 
he should be in any position which they con- 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


325 


ceived inadequate to his deserts. Captain Yan- 
braam told him much of this one night when 
he rode from Alexandria to spend the night 
v T ith George. 

“ General Braddock is a great, bluff, brave, 
foolish, hard-drinking, hard-riding Irishman. He 
does not understand the temper of our soldiers, 
and has not the remotest conception of Indian 
fmhtino:, which our enemies have been clever 
enough to adopt. I foresee nothing but disaster 
if he carries out the campaign on his present 
lines. There is but one good sign. He has 
heard of you, Colonel Washington, and seems to 
have been impressed by the devotion of your 
men to you. Last night he said to me, ‘ Can you 
not contrive to get this young colonel over to see 
me ? I observe one strange thing in these pro- 
vincial troops : they have exactly the same con- 
fidence in Colonel Washington now as before his 
disastrous campaign, and as a soldier I know 
there must be some great qualities in a com- 
mander when even defeat cannot undo him with 
his men, for your private soldier is commonly a 
good military critic ; so now, my little Dutch 
captain,’ bringing his great fist down on my 
back like the hammer on the anvil, ‘ do you bring 
him to see me. If he will take a place in my 
military family, by gad it is his.’ And, my young 


326 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


colonel,” added Vanbraam in his quiet way, “I 
am not so sure it is not your duty to go, for I 
have a suspicion that this great swashbuckler 
will bring our troops to such a pass in this cam- 
paign that only you can manage them. So re- 
turn with me to-morrow.” 

“ Let me sleep on it,” answered George, with 
a faint smile. 

Next evening, as the general sat in his quar- 
ters at the Alexandria Tavern, surrounded by his 
officers, most of them drinking and swaggering, 
the general most of all, a knock came at the 
door, and when it was opened Captain Yan- 
braam’s short figure appeared, and with him 
George Washington, the finest and most military 
figure that General Braddock ever remembered 
to have seen. Something he had once heard of 
the great Conde came to General Braddock’s 
dull brain when he saw this superb young soldier : 
“ This man was born a captain.” 

When George was introduced he was received 
with every evidence of respect. The general, 
wdio was a good soldier after a bad pattern, said 
to him at once : 

“Mr. Washington, I have much desired to see 
you, and will you oblige me by giving me, later 
on, a full account of your last campaign ?” The 
other officers took the hint, and, in a little while, 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


327 


George and the general were alone. They re- 
mained alone until two o’clock in the morning, 
and when George came out of the room he had 
entered as a private citizen he was first aide-de- 
camp on General Braddock’s staff. 

As he walked back to Captain Yanbraam’s 
quarters in the dead of night, under a wintry 
sky, he was almost overwhelmed with conflict- 
ing feelings. He was full of joy that he could 
make the campaign in an honorable position ; 
but General Braddock’s utter inability to compre- 
hend what was necessary in such fighting filled 
him with dread for the brave men who were 
to be risked in such a venture. 

Captain Yanbraam was up waiting for him. 
In a few words George told what had passed. 

“ And now,” he said, “ I must be up and do- 
ing, although it is past two o’clock. I must bid 
my mother good-bye, and I foresee there will be 
no time to do it when once I have reported, 
which I promised to do within twenty-four 
hours. By starting now I can reach Ferry Farm 
to-morrow morning, spend an hour with her, and 
return here at night; so if }^ou, captain, will 
have my horses brought, I will wake up my boy 
Billy ” — for, although Billy was quite George’s 
age, he remained ever his “ boy.” 

Next morning at Ferry Farm, about ten 


328 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


o’clock, Betty, happening to open the parlor 
door, ran directly into George’s arms, whom she 
supposed to be forty-five miles ofi. Betty was 
speechless with amazement. 

“ Don't look as if } T ou had seen a rattlesnake, 
Betty,” cried George, giving her a very cruel 
pinch, “but run, like a good child as you are, 
though flighty, and tell our mother that I am 
here.” 

Before Betty could move a step in marched 
Madam Washington, stately and beautiful as 
ever. And there were the three boys, all hand- 
some youths, but handsomer when they were not 
contrasted with the elder brother; and then, 
quite gayly and as if he were a mere lad, George 
plunged into his story, telling his mother that 
he was to make the campaign with General Brad- 
dock as first aide-de-camp, and trying to tell her 
about the officers’ letter, which he took from his 
pocket, but, blushing very much, was going to 
return it, had not Betty seized it as with an 
eagle’s claw. 

“ Betty,” cried George, stamping his foot, 
“ give me back that letter !” 

“No, indeed, George,” answered Betty, with 
calm disdain. “ Do not put on any of your 
grand airs with me. I have heard of this letter, 
and I mean to read it aloud to our mother. And 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


329 


you may storm and stamp and fume all you like 
— ’tis not of the slightest consequence.” 

So George, scowling and yet forced to laugh a 
little, had to listen to all the compliments paid 
him read out in Betty’s rich, ringing young voice, 
while his mother sat and glowed with pride, and 
his younger brothers hurrahed after the manner 
of boys ; and when Betty had got through the 
letter her laughing face suddenly changed to a 
very serious one, and she ran to George and 
kissed him all over his cheeks, saying : 

“Dear George, it makes me so happy that I 
both want to laugh and cry — dear, dear brother !” 

And George, with tender eyes, kissed Betty 
in return, so that she knew how much he loved 
her. 

When Madam Washington spoke it was in a 
voice strangely different from her usually calm, 
musical tones. She had just got the idol of her 
heart back from all his dangers, and she was loath 
to let him go again, and told him so. 

“ But, mother,” answered George, after listen- 
ing to her respectfully, “when I started upon 
my campaign last year you told me that you 
placed me in God’s keeping. The God to whom 
you commended me then defended me from all 
harm, and I trust He will do so now. Do not 
you ?” 


330 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


Madam Washington paused, and the rare tears 
stole down her cheeks. 

“You are right, my son,” she answered, pres- 
ently. “ I will not say another word to detain 
you, but will once more give you into the hands 
of the good God to take care of for me.” 

That night, before twelve o’clock, George re- 
ported at Alexandria to General Braddock as his 
aide. 

On the 20th of April, near the time that George 
had set out the year before, General Braddock 
began his march from Alexandria in Virginia to 
the mountains of Pennsylvania, where the reduc- 
tion of Fort Duquesne was his first object. There 
were two magnificent regiments of crack British 
troops and ten companies of Virginia troops, 
hardy and seasoned, and in the highest spirits at 
the prospect of their young commander being 
with them. They cheered him vociferously 
when he appeared riding with General Braddock, 
and made him blush furiously. But his face 
grew very long and solemn when he saw the im- 
mense train of wagons to carry baggage and 
stores which he knew were unnecessary, and the 
general at that very moment was storming be- 
cause there were not more. 

“ These,” he said, “ were furnished by Mr. 
Franklin, Postmaster-General of Pennsylvania, 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


331 


and he sends me only a hundred and fifty at 
that.” 

“ A hundred too many,” was George's thought. 

The march was inconceivably slow. Never 
since George could remember had he so much 
difficulty in restraining his temper as on that 
celebrated march. As he said afterwards, 
“ Everv mole-hill had to be levelled, and bridges 
built across every brook.” General Braddock 
wished to march across the trackless wilderness 
of the Alleghanies as he did across the flat plains 
of Flanders, and he spent his time in constructing 
a great military road when he should have been 
pushing ahead. So slow was their progress that 
in reaching Winchester George was enabled to 
make a detour and go to Greenway Court for a 
few hours. The delight of Lord Fairfax and 
Lance was extreme, but in a burst of con- 
fidence George told them the actual state of 
affairs. 

“ What you tell me,” said the earl, gravely, 
“ determines me to go to the low country, for if 
this expedition results disastrously I can be of 
more use at Williamsburg than here. But, my 
dear George, I am concerned for you, because 
you look ill. You are positively gaunt, and you 
look as if you had not eaten for a week.” 

“ 111 !” cried George, beginning to walk up and 


332 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


down the library, and clinching and unclinching 
his fists nervously. “ My lord, it is my heart 
and soul that are ill. Can you think what it is 
to watch a general, brave but obstinate, and 
blind to the last degree, rushing upon disaster ? 
Upon my soul, sir, those English officers think, 
I verily believe, that the Indians are formed into 
regiments and battalions, with a general staff and 
a commissary, and God knows what !” And 
George raved a while longer before he left to 
ride back to Winchester, with Billy riding after 
him. This outbreak was so unlike George, he 
looked so strange, his once ruddy face was so 
pallid at one moment and so violently flushed at 
another that the earl and Lance each felt an un- 
spoken dread that his strong body might give 
way under the strain upon it. 

George galloped back into Winchester that 
night. Both his horse and Billy’s were dripping 
wet, and as he pulled his horse almost up on his 
haunches Billy said, in a queer voice: 

“ Hi, Marse George, d’yar blood on yo’ bridle. 
You rid dat boss hard, sho 1 nough !” 

“ Hold your tongue!” shouted George, in a 
tone that Billy had never heard from him before ; 
and then, in the next minute, he said, confusedly, 
“ I did not mean to speak so, but my head is in 
a whirl ; I think I must be ill.” 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


333 


And as he spoke he reeled in his saddle, and 
would have fallen had not Billy run forward and 
caught him. He staggered into the house where 
he had lodgings, and got into his bed, and by 
midnight he was raving with fever. 

Billy had sense enough to go for Dr. Craik, 
George’s old acquaintance, who had volunteered 
as surgeon to General Braddock’s staff. He was 
a bright * eyed, determined - looking man, still 
young, but skilled in his profession. By morn- 
ing the fever was reduced, and Dr. Craik was 
giving orders about the treatment as he sat by 
George’s bedside, for the army was to resume 
its march that day. 

“ Your attack is sharp,” said the doctor, “but 
you have an iron constitution, and with ordinary 
care you will soon be well.” 

George, pale and haggard, but without fever, 
listened to the doctor’s directions with a half- 
smile. The troops were already on the move ; 
outside could be heard the steady tramp of feet, 
the thunder of horses’ hoofs, the roll of artillerj r - 
wagons, and the commotion of an army on the 
move. In a few moments the doctor left him, 
saying : 

“ I think you will shortly be able to rejoin the 
army, Colonel Washington.” 

“ I think so, too,” answered George. 


334 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


As soon as the doctor was out of the room 
George turned to Billy and said : 

“ Help me on with my clothes, and as soon as 
the troops are well out of the town fetch the 
horses.” 

When the soldiers halted at noon, General 
Braddock, sitting under a tree by the road-side, 
was asking Dr. Craik's opinion of the time that 
Colonel Washington could rejoin, when around 
the corner of a huge bowlder rode George with 
Billy behind him. He was very pale, but he 
could sit his horse. He could not but laugh at 
the doctor’s angry face, but said deprecatingly 
to him : 

“ I would have fretted myself more ill had I 
remained at Winchester, for I am not by nature 
patient, and I have been ill so little that I do not 
know how to be ill.” 

“ I see you don’t,” was the doctor’s dry reply. 

For four days George kept up with the army, 
and managed, in spite of burning fevers, of a 
horrible weakness and weariness, of sleepless 
nights racked with pain, to ride his horse. On 
the fifth he was compelled to take to a covered 
■wagon. There, on a rough bed, with Billy hold- 
ing his burning head, he was jolted along for ten 
days more, each day more agonizing than the 
one before. In that terrible time master and 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


335 


man seemed to have changed places. It was 
George who was fretful and unreasonable and 
wildly irritable, while Billy, the useless, the lazy, 
the incorrigible, nursed him with a patience, a 
tenderness, a strange intelligence that amazed all 
who saw it, and was even dimly felt by George. 
The black boy seemed able to do altogether 
without sleep. At every hour of the day and 
night he was awake and alert, ready to do any- 
thing for the poor sufferer. As the days passed 
on, and George grew steadily worse, the doctor 
began to look troubled. In his master’s presence 
Billy showed no sign of fear, but he would every 
day follow Dr. Craik when he left, and ask him, 
with an ashy face : 

“ Marse doctor, is Marse George gwi’ die ?” 

“I hope not. He is young and strong, and 
God is good.” 

“Ef he die, an’ I go home, what I gwi’ say 
when mistis come out and say, ‘ Billy, wh’yar yo’ 
Marse George V ” And at that Billy would throw 
himself on the ground in a paroxysm of grief 
that was piteous to see. The doctor carefully 
concealed from the soldiers George’s real con- 
dition. But after four or five days of agony a 
change set in, and within the week George was 
able to sit up and even ride a little. The wag- 
ons had kept with the rear division of the army, 


336 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


but George knew that General Braddock, with 
twelve hundred picked men, had gone ahead and 
must be near Fort Duquesne. On the fourteenth 
day, in the evening, when the doctor came he 
found his patient walking about. He was fright- 
fully thin and pale, but youth and strength and 
good habits were beginning to assert themselves. 
He was getting well. 

“ Doctor,” said he, “ this place is about fifteen 
miles from Fort Duquesne. I know it well, and 
from this hour I emancipate myself from you. 
This day I shall report for duty.” 

The next morning, the 9th of July, 1755, 
dawned beautifully, and the first long lances of 
light revealed a splendid sight on the banks of 
the Monongahela. On one side flowed the great 
river in majestic beauty. Following the shores 
was a kind of natural esplanade, while a little 
way off the rich woods, within which dwelt for- 
ever a purple twilight, overhung this charming 
open space. And along this open space marched, 
in exquisite precision, two thousand of England’s 
crack troops — cavalry, infantry, and artillery — 
and a thousand bronzed Virginia soldiery to the 
music of the fife and drum. Often in after-years 
George Washington was heard to say that the 
most beautiful sight his eyes ever rested on 
was the sight of Braddock 1 s army at sunrise on 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


337 


that day of blood. Officers and men were in the 
highest spirits ; they expected within a few hours 
to be in sight of Fort Duquesne, where glory, 
as they thought, awaited their coming. Even 
George’s apprehensions of the imprudence of this 
mode of attack were soothed. He rode by Gen- 
eral Braddock’s side, and was by far the most 
conspicuous figure there for grace and nobility. 
His illness seemed to have departed in a night, 
and he was the same erect, soldierly form, fairly 
dwarfing every one contrasted with him. As 
the general and his first aide rode together, Gen- 
eral Braddock said, confidently : 

“ Colonel Washington, in spite of your warning, 
see how far we have come upon our way without 
disaster. The danger of an attack by Indians is 
now passed, and we have but to march a few 
miles more and glory is ours.” 

Scarcely were the words out of his mouth 
when there was one sharp crack of a gun, fol- 
lowed by a fierce volley, and fifty men dropped 
in their tracks. But there was no enemy visible. 
The shots were like a bolt of lightning from a 
clear sky. 

“The Indians,” said George, in a perfectly 
composed voice, reining up his horse. 

“ I see no Indians,” cried General Braddock, ex- 
citedly. “There is disorder in the ranks; have 
22 


338 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


them closed up at once, and march in double 
time. We will soon find the enemy.” 

But the firing from the invisible foe again 
broke forth, this time fiercer and more murderous 
than before. General Braddock, riding to the 
head of the first regiment, which had begun to 
waver, shouted the order for them to reform and 
fire. The veteran troops, as coolly as if on pa- 
rade, closed up their ranks, and gave a volley, 
but it was as if fired in the air. They saw no 
enemy to fire at. Meanwhile the Virginia troops, 
after the first staggering effect of a terrific mus- 
ketry fire poured into them by an unseen enemy, 
suddenly broke ranks, and, each man running for 
a tree, they took possession of the skirts of the 
woods. On seeing this General Braddock gal- 
loped up to George. 

“ Colonel Washington,” he cried, violently, 
“ your Virginia troops are insubordinate ! They 
have scattered themselves through the woods, 
and I desire them formed again in columns of 
fours to advance.” 

“ Sir,” answered George, in agony, “ the ra- 
vines are full of Indians — many hundreds of 
them. They can slaughter us at their pleasure 
if we form in the open. The Virginians know 
how to fight them.” 

“You are an inexperienced soldier, sir, and 


I 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 339 

therefore I excuse you. But look at my English 
veterans — see how they behave — and I desire the 
Virginians to do the same.” 

At that moment George’s horse fell upon his 
knees, and the next he rolled over, shot through 
the heart. The English regiments had closed up 
manfully, after receiving several destructive vol- 
leys, returning the fire of their assailants without 
seeing them and without producing the smallest 
effect. But suddenly the spectacle of half their 
men dead or wounded on the ground, the gallop- 
ing about of riderless horses, the shrieks of agony 
that filled the air, seemed to unman them. They 
broke and ran in every direction. In vain Gen- 
eral Braddock rode up to them, actually riding 
over them, waving his sword and calling to them 
to halt. 

The men who had faced the legions of Europe 
were panic - stricken by this dreadful unseen 
foe, and fled, only to be shot down in their 
tracks. To make it more terrible, the officers 
were singled out for slaughter, and out of eighty- 
six officers in a very little while twenty-six were 
killed and thirty-seven wounded. General Brad- 
dock himself had his horse shot under him, and 
as he rolled on the ground a cry of pain was 
wrung from him by two musket-balls that pierced 
his body. Of his three aides, two lay weltering 


340 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


in their blood, and George alone was at his side 
helping him to rise. 

Rash and obstinate as General Braddock might 
be, he did not lack for courage, and in that aw- 
ful time he was determined to fight to the last. 

“ Get me another horse,” he said, with diffi- 
culty, to George. “ Are you, too, wounded ?” 

“ No, general, but I have had two horses shot 
under me. Here is my third one — mount!” And 
by the exertion of an almost superhuman strength 
he raised General Braddock’s bulky figure from 
the ground and placed him in the saddle. 

“ I am badly wounded,” said General Brad- 
dock, as he reeled slightly ; “ but I can sit my 
horse yet. Your Virginians are doing nobly, but 
they should form in columns.” 

Besotted to the end, but seeing that the Vir- 
ginians alone were standing their ground, Gen- 
eral Braddock did not give a positive order, and 
George did not feel obliged to obey this murder- 
ous mistake. But General Braddock, after a gasp 
or two, turned a livid face towards George. 

“Colonel Washington, the command is yours. 
I am more seriously wounded than I thought.” 
lie swayed forward, and but for George would 
have fallen from his horse. 

The panic was now at its height. Men, horses, 
wagons, all piled together in a terrible melee. 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


341 


made for the rear; but there, again, they were 
met by a hail of bullets. Staggered, they rushed 
back, only to be again mowed down by the hid- 
den enemy. The few officers left commanded, 
begged, and entreated the men to stand firm ; 
but they, who had faced death upon a hundred 
fields, were now so mad with fear that they were 
incapable of obedience. George, who had man- 
aged to have General Braddock carried to the 
rear with the aid of Dr. Craik, had got another 
horse, and riding from one end of the bloody 
field to the other, did all that mortal man could 
do to rally the panic-stricken men, but it was in 
vain. His clothes were riddled with bullets, but 
in the midst of the carnage around him he was 
unharmed, and rode over the field like the em- 
bodied spirit of battle. 

The Virginians alone, cool and determined, 
fought steadily and sold their lives dearly, al- 
though picked off one by one. At last, after 
hours of panic, flight, and slaughter, George suc- 
ceeded in bringing off the remnant of the Vir- 
ginians, and, overtaking the fleeing mob of regu- 
lar troops some miles from the scene of the con- 
flict, got them across the ford of the Mononga- 
hela. They were safe from pursuit, for the hand- 
ful of Frenchmen could not persuade their Indian 
allies to leave the plunder of the battle-field for 


342 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


the pursuit of the enemy. The first thing that 
George did was to send immediately for wagons, 
which had been left behind, to transport the 
wounded. General Braddock, still alive but suf- 
fering agonies from his wounds, was carried on 
horseback, then in a cart, and at last, the jolting 
being intolerable, on a litter upon the shoulders 
of four sturdv backwoodsmen. But he was 
marked for death. On the third day of this 
terrible retreat, towards sunset, he sank into a 
lethargy. George, who had spent every moment 
possible by his side, turned to Dr. Craik, who 
shook his head significantly — there was no hope. 
As George dismounted and walked by the side 
of the litter, the better to hear any words the 
dying soldier might utter, General Braddock 
roused a little. 

“Colonel Washington," he said, in a feeble 
voice, “I am satisfied with your conduct. We 
have had bad fortune — very bad fortune ; but ” — 
here his mind began to wander — “yonder is the 
smoke rising from the chimneys ; we shall soon 
be home and at rest. Good-night, Colonel Wash- 
ington — ” 

The men with the litter stopped. George, 
with an overburdened heart, watched the last 
gasp of a rash but brave and honorable soldier, 
and presently gently closed his eyes. That 


GEORGE DID ALL THAT MORTAL MAN COULD DO 






A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


343 


night the body of General Braddock, wrapped 
in his military cloak, was buried under a great 
oak-tree in the woods by the side of the high- 
way, and before daylight the mournful march 
was resumed. 

The news of the disaster had preceded them, 
and when George, attended only by Captain 
Vanbraam and a few of his Virginia officers, 
rode into Williamsburg on an August evening, 
it was with the heaviest heart he had ever car- 
ried in his bosom. But by one of those strange 
paradoxes, ever existing in the careers of men of 
destiny, the events that had brought ruin to oth- 
ers only served to exalt him personally. His gal- 
lant conduct in battle, his miraculous escape, his 
bringing off of the survivors, especially among 
the Virginia troops, and the knowledge which 
had come about that had his advice been heed- 
ed the terrible disaster would not have taken 
place — all conspired to make him still more of a 
popular hero. Hot only his own men adored 
him, and pointed out that he had saved all that 
could be saved on that dreadful day, but the 
British troops as well saw that the glory was 
his, and the return march was one long ovation 
to the one officer who came out of the fight 
with a greater reputation than when he entered 
it. Everywhere crowds met him with acclama- 


344 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


tions and with tears. The streets of the quaint 
little town of Williamsburg were filled with 
people on this summer evening, who followed 
the party of officers, with George at their head, 
to the palace. George responded to the shouts 
for him by bowing gracefully from side to side. 

Arrived at the palace he dismounted, and, just 
as the sentry at the main door presented arms 
to him, he saw a party coming out, and they 
were the persons he most desired to see in the 
world and least expected. First came the Earl 
of Fairfax with Madam Washington, whom he 
was about to hand down the steps and into his 
coach, which had not yet driven up. Behind 
them demurely walked Betty, and behind Betty 
came Lance, carrying the mantles of the two 
ladies. 

The earl and Madam Washington, engaged 
in earnest conversation, did not catch sight of 
George until Betty had rushed forward, and cry- 
ing out in rapture, “ George, dear George !” they 
saw the brother and sister clasped in each other’s 
arms. 

Madam Washington stood quite still, dum- 
founded with joy, until George, kissing her hand 
tenderly, made her realize that it was indeed he, 
her best beloved, saved from almost universal 
destruction and standing before her. She, the 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


345 


calmest, the stateliest of women, trembled, and 
had to lean upon him for support ; the earl 
grasped his hand ; Lance was in waiting. George 
was as overcome with joy as they were. 

“ But I must ask at once to see the governor,” 
said he, after the first rapture of meeting was 
over. “You, my lord, must go with me, for I 
want friends near me when I tell the story of 
sorrow and disaster.” 

Four days afterwards, the House of Burgesses 
being in session, Colonel Washington was sum- 
moned by the Speaker to read his report of the 
campaign before it, and to be formally desig- 
nated as commander-in-chief of the forces. The 
facts were already known, but it was thought 
well, in order to arouse the people to the sense 
of their danger, and to provide means for carry- 
ing on the war in defence of their frontiers, that 
Colonel Washington should make a public re- 
port, and should publicly receive the appoint- 
ment of commander-in-chief of the next expedi- 
tion. The House of Burgesses, then as ever, 
proudly insistent of its rights, had given the gov- 
ernor to understand that they would give him 
neither money nor supplies unless their favorite 
soldier should have the command in the next 
campaign — and, indeed, the attitude of the offi- 


346 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


cers and soldiery made this absolutely necessary. 
Even the governor had realized this, and, dis- 
heartened by the failure of his much - heralded 
regulars, was in a submissive mood, and these 
haughty colonial legislators, of whose republi- 
can principles Governor Dinwiddie already com- 
plained much, took this opportunity to prove 
that without their co-operation but little could 
be done. 

The large hall of the House of Burgesses, but 
dimly lighted by small diamond-paned windows, 
was filled with the leading men of the colony, 
including Lord Fairfax. Ladies had been ad- 
mitted to the floor, and among them sat in ma- 
jestic beauty Madam Washington, and next her 
sat Betty, palpitating, trembling, blushing, and 
with proud, bright eyes awaited the entrance 
of her “ darling George,” as she called him, al- 
though often reproved for her extravagance by 
her mother. 

At last George entered this august assembly. 
Ilis handsome head was uncovered, showing: his 
fair hair. He wore a glittering uniform, and his 
sword, given him by Lord Fairfax, hung at his 
side. He carried himself with that splendid and 
noble air that was always his characteristic, and, 
quietly seating himself, awaited the interroga- 
tory of the president. When this was made he 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


347 


rose respectfully and began to read from manu- 
script the sad story of Braddock’s campaign. It 
was brief, but every sentence thrilled all who 
heard it. When he said, in describing the terri- 
ble story of the 9th of July, “ The officers in 
general behaved with incomparable bravery, 
for which they suffered, upwards of sixty be- 
ing killed or wounded,” a kind of groan ran 
through the great assemblage; and when he 
added, in a voice shaken with emotion, “ The 
Virginia companies behaved like men and died 
like soldiers ; for, I believe, out of three com- 
panies on the ground that day scarce thirty men 
were left alive,” sobs were heard, and many per- 
sons, both men and women, burst into tears. 

His report being ended, the president of the 
House of Burgesses arose and addressed him : 

“ Colonel Washington: We have listened to 
your account of the late campaign with feelings 
of the deepest and most poignant sorrow, but 
without abandoning in any way our intention 
to maintain our lawful frontiers against our 
enemies. It has been determined to raise six- 
teen companies in this colony for offensive and 
defensive warfare, and by the appointment of 
his excellency the governor, in deference to the 
will of the people and the desire of the soldiers, 
you are hereby appointed, by this commission 


348 


A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


from his excellency the governor, which I hold 
in my hand, commander-in-chief of all the forces 
now raised or to be raised by this colony, re- 
posing special confidence in your patriotism, 
valor, conduct, and fidelity. And you are hereby 
invested with power and authority to act as you 
shall think for the good of the service. 

“ And we hereby strictly charge all officers and 
soldiers under your command to be obedient to 
your orders and diligent in the exercise of their 
several duties. 

“And we also enjoin and require you to be care- 
ful in executing the great trust reposed in you, 
by causing strict discipline and order to be ob- 
served in the army, and that the soldiers be duly 
exercised and provided with all necessaries. 

“And you are to regulate your conduct in every 
respect by the rules and discipline of war, and 
punctually to observe and follow such orders and 
directions as you shall receive from his excellen- 
cy the governor and this or other House of Bur- 
gesses, or committee of the House of Burgesses.” 

A storm of applause broke forth, and George 
stood silent, trembling and abashed, with a no- 
ble diffidence. He raised one hand in depreca- 
tion, and it was taken to mean that he would 
speak, and a solemn hush fell upon the assem- 
bly. But in the perfect silence he felt himself 



A VIRGINIA CAVALIER 


349 


unable to utter a word, or even to lift his eyes 
from the floor. The president sat in a listening 
attitude for a whole minute, then he said : 

“ Sit down, Colonel Washington. Your mod- 
esty is equal to your valor, and both are above 
comparison. Your life would not have been 
spared, as if by a miracle, had not the All- wise 
Euler of the heavens and the earth designed that 
you should fulfil your great destiny ; and one 
day, believe me, you shall be called the prop, the 
stay, and the glory of your country.” 


THE END 







By JAMES BARNES 


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FOR KING OR COUNTRY. A Story of the American 
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